Israeli Device Lets Paralyzed People Stand, Walk

For you SC and everyone else that finds it interesting.

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Israeli Device Lets Paralyzed People Stand, Walk

Published December 03, 2010

| Associated Press


AP

Nov. 18: Radi Kaiuf, wounded and left paralyzed during his military service, gets up while strapped to "ReWalk," a device helping paralyzed patients stand and walk, in the northern Israeli town of Yokneam.

JERUSALEM – When Israeli entrepreneur Amit Goffer was paralyzed in a car crash in 1997, he went on a quest to help other victims walk again.

He started wondering why the wheelchair is the only way for the paralyzed to get around, short of being carried.

So he invented an alternative: robotic "pants" that use sensors and motors to allow paralyzed patients to stand, walk and even climb stairs. He founded a company, Argo Medical Technologies Ltd., to commercialize it.

After several years of clinical trials in Israel and the United States, units will go on sale in January to rehabilitation centers around the world.

Argo joins several companies that have developed robotics and exoskeletons in medicine.
Called "ReWalk," the latest device can help paraplegics to stand and walk — using crutches for stability — when they lean forward and move their upper body in different ways.

The 35-pound (16-kilogram) device, worn outside of clothing, consists of leg braces outfitted with motion sensors and motorized joints that respond to subtle changes in upper-body movement and shifts in balance. A harness around the patient's waist and shoulders keeps the suit in place, and a backpack holds the computer and rechargeable 3 1/2-hour battery.

When operated, it makes clanging robotic sounds, like the hero of the 1980s cult movie "Robocop."

"ReWalk is a man-machine device. The machine cannot walk by itself. The user cannot walk by himself. Only when they are together they can walk," said Oren Tamari, Argo's chief operating officer.

He said regular usage of the device, which costs about $100,000, would prevent costly complications that often arise in people who can't walk, including pressure sores and urinary, digestive, circulatory, and cardiovascular problems.

The ReWalk arrives at a boom time for such devices in medicine.

Tibion Corp. of Sunnyvale, Calif., is promoting a "Bionic Leg" quite similar to ReWalk, but intended to help stroke patients walk again. Ossur of Iceland makes a powered knee prosthesis that lets amputees walk.

ReWalk will have competition in targeting paraplegics. Last month, Berkeley Bionics of Berkeley, Calif., unveiled eLEGS. The exoskeleton will begin clinical trials early next year in rehabilitation clinics. A limited release of eLEGS is scheduled during the second half of 2011.

New Zealand-based Rex Bionics has developed a fully robotic, joystick operated unit, and others have marketed performance augmentation units that are not necessarily designed for the handicapped.

Goffer is paralyzed from the neck down, and ReWalk users need their hands and shoulders to operate it and support crutches, so he is not yet able to enjoy his creation. But he said the company is working on a version for quadriplegics such as himself.

Those who have tested it say the benefit is more than physical.

"When I use the ReWalk I feel like I am maintaining my body. It is like taking a car to the garage ... It feels great," said Radi Kaiuf, a ReWalk evaluator who was paralyzed in 1988 during his Israeli military service.

"I have a 3-year-old daughter. The first time she saw me walking, she was silent for the first few minutes and then she said, `Daddy you are tall.'" It made me feel so good, like I was soaring."


Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/health/2010/12/0 ... z175qYbf74

http://www.sprword.com/videos/aipac/

So they can walk thru the TSA scanners...
And VL your vid don't work.

Martin Ent Inc wrote: So they can walk thru the TSA scanners...
And VL your vid don't work.

Nothing about him works.

Damn those Israelis. Don't they have anything better to do than invent things to help mankind? :can't hear

great post Nmysys :thumbsup: who new!

Teddy wrote: Damn those Israelis. Don't they have anything better to do than invent things to help mankind? :can't hear

Yes, Teddy, they do.

The Israeli's have invented the intelligence that in order to stop terroristism on Israeli departed aircraft, they simply PROFILE. They believe that the American TSA was created only to get their GROPE ON!

Where is the outrage from the left that hates Israel and the fact that we support them as our ally? Can't have any argument when it is proven that they are capable of creating marvelous things for the benefit of mankind, can you?

Do you know how many great inventions the Nazi's came up with?...They literally put us on the moon, ever hear of Wernher von Braun?

[imgleft:3ho7howj] sabbah.biz/mt/wp-content/uploads/2007/05...rimes_by_Latuff2.jpg [/imgleft:3ho7howj]

Here are some more things about Israel that I have posted before. But some idiot will remind us that they are cruel to the poor Palestinians who have never done anything to them.

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Here is a capsule of accomplishments you may not be fully aware of. I thought you might find these statistics interesting.

The Middle East has been growing date palms for centuries.The average tree is about 18-20 feet tall and yields about 38 pounds of dates a year.Israeli trees are now yielding 400 pounds/year and are short enough to be harvested from the ground or a short ladder.

Israel, the 100th smallest country, with less than 1/1000th of the world's population,can lay claim to the following:

The cell phone was developed in Israel by Israelis working in the
Israeli branch of Motorola, which has its largest development center in Israel.

Most of the WindowsNTand XP operating systems were developed by Microsoft-Israel.

The Pentium MMX Chip technology was designed in Israel at Intel. Both the Pentium-4 microprocessor and the Centrino processor were entirely designed, developed and produced in Israel. The Pentium microprocessor in your computer was most likely made in Israel.

Voicemail technology was developed in Israel.
Both Microsoft and Cisco built their only R&D facilities outside the US in Israel.

The technology for the AOL Instant Messenger ICQ was developed in 1996 by four young Israelis.

Israel has the fourth largest air force in the world (after the U.S, Russia and China). In addition to a large variety of other aircraft, Israel's Air Force has an aerial arsenal of over 250F-16's. This is the largest fleet of F-16 aircraft outside of the U.S. According to industry officials, Israel designed the airline industry's most impenetrable flight security. U.S. officials now look to Israel for advice on how to handle airborne security threats.

Israel's $100 billion economy is larger than all of its immediate
neighbors combined.

Israel has the highest percentage in the world of home computers per capita.

Israel has the highest ratio of university degrees to the population in the world.

Israel produces more scientific papers per capita than any other nation by a large margin-109 per 10,000 people - as well as one of the highest per capita rates of patents filed.

In proportion to its population, Israel has the largest number of startup companies in the world. In absolute terms, Israel has the largest number of startup companies than any other country in the world ,except the U.S. (3,500 companies mostly in hi-tech).

With more than 3,000 high-tech companies and startups,Israel has the highest concentration of hi-tech companies in the world--apart from the Silicon Valley,U.S.

Israelis ranked #2 in the world for venture capital funds right behind the U.S.

Outside the United States and Canada, Israel has the largest number of NASDAQ listed companies.

Israel has the highest average living standards in the Middle East.The per capita income in 2000 was over $17,500, exceeding that of the UK.

On a per capita basis, Israel has the largest number of biotech startups.

Twenty-four percent of Israel's work force holds university degrees,ranking third in the industrialized world, after the United States and Holland and 12 percent hold advanced degrees.

Israel is the only liberal democracy in the Middle East.
In 1984 and 1991, Israel airlifted a total of 22,000 Ethiopian Jews at Risk in Ethiopia,to safety in Israel.

When Golda Meir was elected Prime Minister of Israel in 1969, she became the world's second elected female leader in modern times.

When the U.S. Embassy in Nairobi,Kenya was bombed in 1998,Israeli rescue teams were on the scene within a day--and saved three victims from the rubble.

Israel has the third highest rate of entrepreneurship-and the highest rate among women and among people over 55-in the world.

Relative to its population,Israel is the largest immigrant-absorbing nation on earth.Immigrants come in search of democracy, religious freedom,and economic opportunity.

Israel was the first nation in the world to adopt the Kimberly process, an international standard that certifies diamonds as "conflict free."

Israel has the world's second highest per capita of new books.

Israel is the only country in the world that entered the 21stcentury with a net gain in its number of trees, made more remarkable because this was achieved in an area considered mainly desert.

Israel has more museums per capita than any other country.

Medicine...Israeli scientists developed the first fully computerized, no-radiation, diagnostic instrumentation for breast cancer.

An Israeli company developed a computerized system for ensuring proper administration of medications, thus removing human error from medical treatment. Every year in U.S. hospitals 7,000 patients die from treatment mistakes.


Israel's Givun Imaging developed the first ingestible video camera,so small it fits inside a pill. Used to view the small intestine from the inside, the camera helps doctors diagnose cancer and digestive disorders.

Researchers in Israel developed a new device that directly helps the heart pump blood, an innovation with the potential to save lives among those with heart failure. The new deviceis synchronized with the heart's mechanical operations through a sophisticated system of sensors.

Israel leads the world in the number of scientists and technicians in the work force, with 145 per 10,000, as opposed to 85 in the U.S., over 70 in Japan, and less than 60 in Germany. With over 25% of its work force employed in technical professions. Israel places first in this
category as well.

A new acne treatment developed in Israel, the Clear Light device, produces a high-intensity, ultraviolet-light-free, narrow-band blue light that causes acne bacteria to self-destruct-all without damaging surrounding skin or tissue.

An Israeli company was the first to develop and install a large-scale solar-powered and fully functional electricity generating plant, in southern California's Mojave desert.

All the above while engaged in regular wars with an implacable enemy that seeks its destruction, all the while having to maintain an economy continuously...under.strain by having to spend more per capita on its own protection than any other country on earth.--