6 ms·

ReWalk Robotics's New Exoskeleton Lets Paraplegic Stroll the Streets of NYC

38 points by mcspecter 11y ago

hughes 11y ago
The smile on Mr. Woo's face is what sells this for me. Yeah the device looks a little clunky and it can't match human agility, but this is the face of a man who can walk again.
sunsu 11y ago
I can't believe the company behind Rework didn't give him one. I hope they end up doing so!
EvanAnderson 11y ago
I'm actually shocked at what I felt was a not wholly unreasonable $77,000 price-point. I contracted with a prosthetics manufacturer a several years ago, and during the course of that work I recall hearing prices north of $20,000 for some of the trans-femoral prostheses with microprocessor-controlled knees. At $77,000 this unit certainly doesn't seem unreasonably expensive.
kimburgess 11y ago
Super similar design the the Cyberdyne (note: actual company, not Skynet) HAL. Dropped in and nerded out when I was in Japan last year. Their main target is for medical and mobility assistance for the elderly but they also do some pretty interesting stuff for augmenting able bodied users: http://www.cyberdyne.jp/english/products/supporting.html http://www.cyberdyne.jp/english/products/supporting.html.
- codewithcheese 11y ago
  Wow I love how Japanese tech companies are willing to embrace futuristic imagery. That HAL for disaster recovery looks like something straight out of a game. e.g Halo.
rebootthesystem 11y ago
I truly don't understand why the FDA has to be involved in this market segment at all. OK, if they are inserting electrodes into the person, sure, i get it. Otherwise their involvement will only serve to make the technology more expensive and limit competition due to the insane costs of navigating their approval process. It could cost a couple of million dollars to get FDA approval. It seems to me there's no reason for them to be involved. If the devices don't work people won't buy them.
- DanBC 11y ago
  > If the devices don't work people won't buy them. This has been proved wrong so often. People buy homeopathy or fuel-line magnets etc etc, even though a lot of this stuff has been rigorously tested and shown to be useless. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fuel_saving_device https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fuel_saving_device Whether the answer is regulation is a useful discussion, but "people don't buy things that don't work" is false.
  - rebootthesystem 11y ago
    Well, yeah, and people believe in gods and miracles too. That's the world we live in. On this product though, I think it is a stretch to place it in the same category as holy water and other nonsense. An assisted walking device costing tens of thousands of dollars is very far from magnetic bracelets sold on TV. The sales process is very different. It includes a demo, during which the buyer will quickly understand whether or not the device does what it says. The FDA should not be involved unless something is going into your body. Their involvement pretty much guarantees the device will be far more expensive and competition will be limited due to the barrier to entry.
    - newsbeagle 11y ago
      There are significant safety issues involved in strapping a robot to your body and letting it move you around, no? That's why the FDA is involved.
Mithaldu 11y ago
There are a lot of videos of the device on youtube: https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=ReWalk&search_sort=video_date_uploaded https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=ReWalk&search_s...

38 points by mcspecter 11y ago

The smile on Mr. Woo's face is what sells this for me. Yeah the device looks a little clunky and it can't match human agility, but this is the face of a man who can walk again.

sunsu 11y ago

I can't believe the company behind Rework didn't give him one. I hope they end up doing so!

EvanAnderson 11y ago

I'm actually shocked at what I felt was a not wholly unreasonable $77,000 price-point. I contracted with a prosthetics manufacturer a several years ago, and during the course of that work I recall hearing prices north of $20,000 for some of the trans-femoral prostheses with microprocessor-controlled knees. At $77,000 this unit certainly doesn't seem unreasonably expensive.

kimburgess 11y ago

Super similar design the the Cyberdyne (note: actual company, not Skynet) HAL. Dropped in and nerded out when I was in Japan last year. Their main target is for medical and mobility assistance for the elderly but they also do some pretty interesting stuff for augmenting able bodied users: http://www.cyberdyne.jp/english/products/supporting.html http://www.cyberdyne.jp/english/products/supporting.html.

codewithcheese 11y ago
Wow I love how Japanese tech companies are willing to embrace futuristic imagery. That HAL for disaster recovery looks like something straight out of a game. e.g Halo.

rebootthesystem 11y ago

I truly don't understand why the FDA has to be involved in this market segment at all. OK, if they are inserting electrodes into the person, sure, i get it. Otherwise their involvement will only serve to make the technology more expensive and limit competition due to the insane costs of navigating their approval process. It could cost a couple of million dollars to get FDA approval. It seems to me there's no reason for them to be involved. If the devices don't work people won't buy them.

DanBC 11y ago
> If the devices don't work people won't buy them. This has been proved wrong so often. People buy homeopathy or fuel-line magnets etc etc, even though a lot of this stuff has been rigorously tested and shown to be useless. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fuel_saving_device https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fuel_saving_device Whether the answer is regulation is a useful discussion, but "people don't buy things that don't work" is false.
- rebootthesystem 11y ago
  Well, yeah, and people believe in gods and miracles too. That's the world we live in. On this product though, I think it is a stretch to place it in the same category as holy water and other nonsense. An assisted walking device costing tens of thousands of dollars is very far from magnetic bracelets sold on TV. The sales process is very different. It includes a demo, during which the buyer will quickly understand whether or not the device does what it says. The FDA should not be involved unless something is going into your body. Their involvement pretty much guarantees the device will be far more expensive and competition will be limited due to the barrier to entry.
  - newsbeagle 11y ago
    There are significant safety issues involved in strapping a robot to your body and letting it move you around, no? That's why the FDA is involved.

Mithaldu 11y ago

There are a lot of videos of the device on youtube: https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=ReWalk&search_sort=video_date_uploaded https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=ReWalk&search_s...