Students wear a suit in which a paraplegic can walk without assistance.

Students at TU Delft have developed a robot prosthesis that enables a patient with a spinal cord injury to walk again. In an earlier example, the patient still needed crutches to maintain balance, but this is no longer necessary.

Students call the exoskeleton the eighth March.

While walking, some kind of noise had earlier appeared in the “pilot’s” brain. The students have now succeeded in suppressing that noise. For example, the driver can make the robot suit stop just by thinking about it.

In earlier suits, it was also necessary to use crutches to maintain balance. With March 8th that is no longer necessary. A spinal cord injury patient can now, for example, hold his girlfriend’s hand, drink coffee, or throw a ball to his dog.

New sensors have also been added to the suit. As a result, the patient’s gait and posture are “smoother, more natural and more comfortable”. In addition, the robotic suit can feel better about how it touches the ground while walking.

Wat is een dwarslaesie?

Bij een dwarslaesie is het ruggenmerg beschadigd. Daardoor kunnen signalen vanuit de hersenen niet meer alle delen van het lichaam bereiken. Patiënten kunnen dan bijvoorbeeld hun benen niet meer voelen en bewegen.