Sometimes this wearables stuff can be pretty inspiring. Here’s a story from LiveScience about a paraplegic who can walk again with the help of an Indego Exoskeleton.

The exoskeleton worn by Gore attaches at the ankles and up the legs to his torso. Electric motors drive the hip and knee joints, while either leaning forward or backward controls the motion of the machine…. “You can think of our exoskeleton as a Segway with legs,” Michael Goldfarb, a developer of the new technology at Vanderbilt University, said in a statement in 2012. “If the person wearing it leans forward, he moves forward. If he leans back and holds that position for a few seconds, he sits down. When he is sitting down, if he leans forward and holds that position for a few seconds, then he stands up.”

The Indego exo is a commercialization by Parker Hannifin of work done at Vanderbilt. It will be lighter than the original 25-pound device and be able to be put on in less than five minutes.

Developers say that exoskeletons won’t be able to help only paraplegics, but will be able to help stroke victims and people with spinal cord injuries learn to walk again. LiveScience says there are other exos waiting to enter the U.S. market, including the ReWalk bionic suit from the Israeli Argo Medical Technologies. It’s awaiting FDA approval.

Here’s a video. Amazing. We’re living in the future.

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