Madeline Novey

madelinenovey@coloradoan.com

As long as everything goes according to plan, millions of viewers around the world will watch as a Brazilian paralyzed from the waist down gets up from their wheelchair and kicks a soccer ball at the opening ceremony of the FIFA World Cup games June 12.

How does such a thing happen? Mind control. Specifically, this young man or woman will use their brain to tell a robotic prosthesis to move their legs.

Partial credit for this scientific marvel — and promise that such a demonstration holds — goes to Colorado State University 3D printing lab employees who developed parts vital to the exoskeleton's function.

In November, CSU's Vice President for Research Alan Rudolph asked David Prawel to create a custom lining for the helmet a prosthesis user wears. Prawel oversees the university's Idea-2-Product 3D printing lab where students and professionals alike can create everything from replicas of bronze sculptures to functioning models of mechanical components using the lab's specialized printers.

The prosthesis user is outfitted with a cap dotted with electrodes that must be situated just so on the person's head so their brain can optimally communicate with the electrodes, which relay commands to the exoskeleton. They wear a helmet for protection against falls.

Previously, helmets used for this research were stuffed with foam. A custom-made lining ensures the electrodes line up exactly right under a hollowed-out Bern helmet.

The Idea-2-Product team made dozens of prototypes, tweaking models constantly as they received feedback from a consortium of scientists from across the globe working to develop this prosthesis as part of the Walk Again Project. Rudolph has for years worked with the project's director, Brazilian neuroscientist Miguel Nicolelis.

A major benefit of 3D printing is the speed at which things can be printed, changed and printed again. Using a 3D printer can mean the difference between weeks and days — or even hours — that something is created.

Development was complex and nothing short of artistic. The team started by perfecting smaller model liners before graduating recently to the final product, a white, pliable and head-sized thermoplastic urethane liner that took 58 hours and 38 minutes to print.

"This is the power of rapid prototyping," said Prawel, turning the liner over in his hands on Wednesday. He said he's proud to be part of a project that's helping "change people's lives."

The liner will soon travel with Rudolph to Brazil.

Scientists with the Walk Again Project, of which Rudolph is a part, are working with eight people in clinical trials of the robotic exoskeleton in Sao Paulo, Brazil. As a means of protecting patient privacy, Rudolph wouldn't identify the person who will demonstrate use of the exoskeleton at the World Cup.

Their training on the prosthesis — and research into what's known as brain interface — will continue after the games.

"The World Cup is really a step along that journey," Rudolph said.

People can't yet walk into a store and buy a robotic exoskeleton. But related technologies are emerging "pretty quickly," Rudolph said, and at a time when President Barack Obama has emphasized the need to invent and refine technologies to understand the human brain.

The World Cup demonstration, Rudolph said, is an opportunity to show the world what could be. "I think there is good reason to give hope to the community." he said.

Want to learn more?

Visit http://bit.ly/walkagainproject to hear from Brazilian neuroscientist Miguel Nicolelis, as he discusses the Walk Again Project. In the video, you'll be able to see a person learning to wear and use the robotic exoskeleton, or prosthetic, to walk. This training takes place in Brazil, so it's footage we couldn't capture at Colorado State University.