ReWalk
After an accident left Amit Goffer in a wheelchair for life, he started developing a system that would enable people with spinal cord injuries to walk again. It took more than a decade, but now the ReWalkexoskeleton is available to consumers at a price of $69,500. The ReWalk is basically a battery-powered set of legs. Users strap it on and then use crutches to balance as they walk. One of the primary goals is to allow people who have been bound to wheelchairs to meet the world “eye-to-eye” again. But the system provides real mobility, as well as positive metabolic effects and increased functionality, too. In 2012, a 32-year-old woman who’d been paralyzed from the chest down used a ReWalk to complete the London Marathon in 17 days. The system is available internationally and pending FDA clearance in the U.S.