3D Printing Offers Paraplegics New Hope to Walk Again

A 3D Printed "Ekso-Suit" has enabled Amanda Boxtel to Walk Again.

We've already seen exoskeletons that can assist heavy lifting or even offer assistance to those disabled below knee level, but now, 3D Systems and EksoBionics have gone a step further by creating an exoskeleton that has allowed Amanda Boxtel, who is paralyzed from the waist down, to walk again for the fist time in over 20 Years. Boxtel expressed her joy by saying that, "After years of dreaming about it, I am deeply grateful and thrilled to be making history by walking tall in the fist ever 3D printed Ekso-suit, made specifically for me." 

3D Systems scanning technology produced a three-dimensional reading of Boxtel's lower body and spine, allowing the exoskeleton to be completely tailor made to her body shape and contours. This not only provides improved comfort in the design, but also greatly benefits in reducing the risk of injury; as Boxtel has no sensation below the waist, she doesn't immediately notice bruising or wounds formed from rubbing. Wounds could become infected and dangerous to her health before she even notices them. "We had to be very careful with creating geometry that would dodge the parts of the body that it had to dodge..." said Scott Summit, 3D Systems senior director for functional design, "[Designing] parts that wouldn't impede circulation or cause bruising." 

This is where 3D printing is crucial to the design, as it offers more ease in creating complex and custom contoured parts, compared to traditional methods. 3D Systems printed the complex tailor-made parts from scans that would be the connection between Boxtel and the robotics, with the main focus being on both comfort and safety. 3D printing offers such complexity that the suit was even designed to minimize perspiration by allowing Boxtel's skin to breathe. The whole project was made in a mere 3 months, a much quicker time than one would expect to produce something from nontraditional methods and with such customized features.

EksoBionics then provided the sophisticated mechanical actuators and controls that produce the mechanical movement. There are currently a number of different methods of control for the exoskeleton. Users can actuate their steps either with buttons on the accompanying crutches or walker, or by moving their hips by using wight shift with the initiation of forward leg movement, thus offering solutions to people with various degrees of disability.

3D printing continues to unchain the shackles and difficulties found in traditional manufacturing methods. Now it has even offered a step forward in comfort and safety between humans and robotic exoskeletons, and has made a promising hope for the future of paraplegic and disabled people. A future where they can once again walk.