Brooks Rehabilitation: Cyberdine

Brooks Rehabilitation Hospital here in Jacksonville, FL is doing some amazing things right now. They are the first organization to implement the new HAL exoskeleton. HAL® [Hybrid Assistive Limb®] is the world‘s first cyborg-type robot, by which a wearer‘s bodily functions can be improved, supported, and enhanced.

The patient with a spinal cord injury and is unable to move their legs but might have a trace amount of movement might be able to benefit from this type of system. During movement, the human body sends electrical signals from the brain to the muscles. During this process, there is also a subtle “bio-electric signals [BES]” that leaks out onto the human skin, which reflects his or her intention to “move.” The HAL exoskeleton works by reading these “bio-electric signals [BES].”

The patient is able to ambulate with this exoskeleton while reteaching themselves and strengthening their own signals to their legs to move on their own. The goal of this therapy is not to compensate and rely on these exoskeletons but to allow an augmented approach and eventually a recovery approach to allow these patients to walk independently again.

I am ecstatic that I am starting this new career with all these new opportunities and the push for advancement everyone is making to improve people’s quality of life. The future we have been dreaming about is here, now what are we going to do with it?