Robotic sciense helps paraplegic student walk.

No matter how successful, rich and famous you are and no matter how careful and thoughtful you may be you could be involved in a car accident. In fact most people in developed countries have at least one trivial or serious accident involving cars in their lifetime. This is the case of Austin Whitney. A young man having just completed high school and scheduling to continue his studies. He was ambitious and hardworking but he made a mistake. He got involved in a car accident back in 2007, after drinking and driving and was left paralyzed. The doctors said he could never walk again. At a point in life such as this a man needs a lot of strength to carry on and most of the times he needs support from friends and family. This time Austin had also the support of science. A professor at Berkeley University created an exoskeleton light and affordable to help paraplegics walk again. There are other exoskeletons in the market but their cost, being over $100,000, is just prohibitive. The exoskeleton that was created by the Berkeley team costs a fraction of the price of others at $15,000. With that price you get a lightweight but strong exoskeleton with a battery life of 8 hours. This exoskeleton helped Austin walk to the podium and receive his graduation title in front of a crowd that kept silence through this effort. Since that day, Austin and others like him can look at the future with hope for a better life.

via: Gizmodo
sources: Austin Whitney, UC Berkeley, San Francisco Chronicle