Following our visit to Berkeley Bionics to talk with the team about their inspiring artificially intelligent, bionic devices, we were lucky enough to visit The Santa Clara Valley Medical Center (VMC) to speak with those involved in the clinical testing of this new technology as part of patient treatment.
Berkeley Bionics has been working in conjunction with VMC Chief of Spinal Cord & Orthopedic Rehabilitation Dr. Akshat Shah to bring eLEGS — the wearable, artificially intelligent exoskeleton that enables those suffering from paralysis to stand up and walk again — into patient care, treatment, and rehabilitation.
Along with the VMC Foundation, which is raising money to support the project, the team is fine-tuning the device and studying how patients interact with eLEGS to optimize patient treatment and human-tech cooperation. The project’s eventual goal is to integrate the device into program-wide patient rehab both at VMC and in medical programs across the country in an effort to eliminate the need for wheelchairs and give the millions of people suffering from spinal cord injuries, stroke, MS, and more, the chance to stand up and walk again.
Below you will find interviews with Dr. Shah, VMC Foundation Executive Director Christopher Wilder, as well as a demonstration of eLEGS in motion with Karen Trolan, who was left paralyzed after a plane crash, but is well into her treatment and learning to walk again thanks to eLEGS. It’s truly wonderful stuff.
Special thanks to Karen and all those who participated, as well as Ashley Pagan for the expert camera work and editing, and TCTV Producer Jon Orlin for being The Facilitator.
And don’t forget to check out the first part of the story — including demos and interviews from our trip to Berkeley Bionics — here.