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Park said the goal is to create and test the prototype within weeks, with broader testing throughout 2019 for a 2020 release date.

He said at the B.C. Tech Summit after demonstrating how the Exomotion would work — this prototype when operated by a technician at a keyboard doesn’t move quickly or fluidly — that their innovation is a breakthrough because it behaves as a human body would.

He said the robot offers the user the full range of motion so that walkers can maintain their balance and experience normal walking.

The day it’s ready for testing can’t come quickly enough for Chloe Angus, who three years ago started her day as an able-bodied 40-year-old out for a run and learned within 24 hours she would never walk again.

The doctors diagnosed her with a benign tumour on her spine. It’s inoperable and she’s been using a wheelchair since.

Angus, a fashion designer whose line of clothing with Indigenous motifs has been worn by former B.C. Premier Christy Clark and is sold across Canada and beyond, said within 48 hours of learning of her injury, she was looking for an exoskeleton.

She soon realized it wasn’t as easy as ordering one from Amazon.

Angus was able to get eight sessions at the G.F. Strong Centre but because of the cost of using the apparatus that required two employees to assist, she was unsuccessful at starting a program there.

But she was hooked on finding a way to walk again — “When I stood up and was able to walk across the gymnasium floor, it just blew my mind” — and was directed toward Park and Arzanpour.