

SAN FRANCISCO — A Berkeley company on Thursday introduced a battery-powered exoskeleton to get paraplegics out of their wheelchairs and walking on their feet.

Called eLEGS, the exoskeleton consists of a robotic frame controlled through crutches. The crutches contain sensors; putting forward the right crutch moves the left leg, and vise versa. The eLEGS battery can enable a user to walk for one day before it needs to be recharged, according to the product’s developer Berkeley Bionics. (See video below.)

“With every step I feel more confident, and it’s truly liberating,” said Amanda Boxtel, a paraplegic for 18 years who demonstrated the eLEGS exoskeleton at a press conference Thursday. “I’m usually in a wheelchair and 4 feet tall, staring up at people’s nostrils. Now I’m able to look at the world.”

Exoskeletons — wearable, artificially intelligent bionic devices — have primarily been developed for military usage to enhance soldiers’ strength and endurance in the battlefield. In the medical industry, doctors are also studying exoskeleton applications to assist the physically disabled.

The implications of exoskeletons in the health field go beyond giving paraplegics robotic legs. They could also teach people to learn how to walk on their own again. Currently, rehabilitation centers use much larger, stationary and extremely expensive devices to assist with temporary walking. (Wired.com’s Tim Carmody points out that “Getting time on these devices is like getting telescope time for an astronomer.”)

Being able to walk with an exoskeleton enables users to do rehabilitation anywhere and anytime — and that could be especially beneficial to people who are recently injured, Boxtel says in the video below, because they can begin load-bearing rehabilitation exercises while they still have the muscle memory for walking.

“There’s huge therapeutic benefits for this device that will then become a preventative measure in the long term because our bodies are meant to be walking upright and moving,” Boxtel said.

Berkeley Bionics based the eLEGS exoskeleton design on Lockheed Martin’s Human Universal Load Carrier (HULC) exoskeleton, a system designed to help military soldiers traverse through rough terrain without injuries.

Berkeley Bionics modified the HULC to make the eLEGS extremely user friendly with a Velcro strap, backpack-style clips and shoulder straps; anybody should be able to slip it on and off in a minute or two. The eLEGS will fit most people between 5′ 2″ and 6′ 4″, weighing 220 pounds or less, and Berkeley Bionics said it was especially important to make the exoskeleton thin, lightweight and very quiet when operated.

“Today I’m going to rekindle a hope among [those with] spinal cord injuries,” said Eythor Bender, CEO of Berkeley Bionics. “[eLEGS] will help people to get out of wheel chairs, stand up, walk, sit down and do other things as we develop it forward.”

The eLEGS will initially be available at select rehabilitation centers starting July 2011, according to Bender.

The company also plans a mobile version of eLEGS for home use. People will be able to strap it on in the morning and use to walk around as they go about their days, according to CEO Eythor Bender.

See below for a video from Berkeley Bionics explaining eLEGS.

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Photo: Jim Merithew/Wired.com; video: Michael Lennon/Wired.com