When you’re a parent, there’s nothing that you wouldn’t do for your kids. A good example would be Jean-Louis Constanza, one of the co-founders of Wandercraft, a company that specializes in exoskeleton suits, where he built an exoskeleton suit for his wheelchair-bound son to help him walk again.
Costanza’s son, Oscar, suffers from a neurological condition in which his nerves do not send enough signals to his legs, which in turn prevents him from walking. As a result, Oscar is confined to his wheelchair which he uses to get around, but one day he posed a question to his father, asking him why can’t he use his skills as a robotic engineer to help create a robot that helps him walk.
According to Jean-Louis, “The first thing to give back to people is to allow them to stand up and walk. That’s really important for them, for their health, for their well-being, it’s important for all of us who can stand up.” According to those who have tried the suit, obviously it will feel a bit unnatural, but they do eventually get used to the controls over time.
The company’s exoskeleton suit is being sold but it does not come cheap at around $176,000, but maybe for some, that’s definitely worth paying for.