Exoskeletons–wearable, motorized machines that can assist a
person’s movements–have largely been confined to movies or
military use, but recent advances might soon bring the devices
to the homes of people with paralysis. So far, exoskeletons have
been used to augment the strength of soldiers or to help
hospitalized stroke patients relearn how to walk. Now
researchers at the University of California, Berkeley, have
demonstrated an exoskeleton that is portable and lets
paraplegics walk in a relatively natural gait with minimal
training. That could be an improvement for people with spinal-
cord injuries who spend a lot of time in wheelchairs, which can
cause sores or bone deterioration. Existing medical exoskeletons
for patients who have lost function in their lower extremities
have either not been equipped with power sources or have been
designed for tethered use in rehabilitation facilities, to
correct and condition a patient’s gait. In contrast, the
Berkeley exoskeleton combines “the freedom of not being tethe