Written By: Farah Vitale

A bionic suit could change the future for paraplegics, at least temporarily. The machine, called an exoskeleton, is a set of bionic feet, legs and hips that are connected to one another. It helps people with spinal injuries move around. Researchers shared their work with the exoskeleton system while at the Reno Veterans Affairs hospital. The research is showing that getting patients up and moving has positive impacts on both mental and physical health.

It’s not a full replacement for a wheelchair, but will change how paraplegics progress.

Living in this world with complete or incomplete paralysis or the legs and possibly the trunk is a reality hard to picture. The new research done on the bionic suit is going to help paralyzed vets walk in the world with more confidence and also help them physically improve. The suit returns movement to the person’s hips and knees with small motors attached to standard orthotics. While wearing it, they can control the movement of each leg and walk at up to 1.1 miles per hour by pushing buttons that are apart of a pair of crutches.

The technology is similar to other exoskeleton suits that are currently on the market competing. There’s the SuitX exoskeleton, whose design originated at the Robotics and Human Engineering Laboratory at the University of California, Berkeley. Their major goal was to build a special exoskeleton for children. Children with neurological disorders can sometimes risk losing mobility of their legs without intensive walking training.

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