Robotic exoskeleton trousers help paralysed athlete walk again

A paralysed athlete has been helped to walk again with the help of powered exoskeleton trousers.

Young scientists in the Netherlands say they hope their invention can give hope for increased mobility to other injured and disabled people.

The system’s first “pilot”, Sjaan Quirijns, who was paralysed from the waist down in an accident 18 years ago, can now walk for 30 minutes at a time.

The aluminium and 3D-printed plastic exoskeleton, called Project March, was created by a 20-strong team of electrical engineers, technical engineers and industrial designers from Delft University of Technology.

Ms Quirijns in their suit recently won the Cybathlon Experience European assistive tech design competition, a timed obstacle run which mimics daily challenges. She completed the seven tests — including a slope, stairs and getting up from a chair unaided — in under 10 minutes.

The suit’s pilot uses smart crutches to balance and to tell the system where they want to go. They carry a “master computer” in a back-pack, which acts as the suit’s brain, sending electronic pulses to piston-powered knee joints.

An abdominal plate and back support were also built for Ms Quirijns, 43, who has no feeling from below the chest. She and the design team will demonstrate the suit at Mansion House as part of the UK state visit of King Willem-Alexander and Queen Máxima this month.

Next year, a new generation of students will take over to progress the design to its fourth stage.

Team public relations manager Magali Ponds said the inventors hope the suit could be useful for people with long-term degenerative illnesses affecting strength, such as muscular dystrophy and multiple sclerosis.

She said: “We’ve built an exoskeleton for people with a spinal cord injury and we’re giving people back mobility who are not able to walk themselves.

“Sjaan loved walking again, she was able to walk for 24 years, and then she couldn’t and now she can again. It was a really special experience. She said it’s like extreme sports, we trained for two to three times a week for three months, and now she can walk for 30 minutes.

“The structure follows the legs of the pilot and so it’s really important that the joints of the exoskeleton suit are aligned to the joints of the pilot.

“The suit carries its own weight and is powered by a battery, which also supplies the energy so Sjaan really doesn’t feel anything of the weight of the suit, but she does have to keep balance with the crutches, which is the weight that she feels.