California universities win grant to develop bionic suit

Los Angeles Business Journal 15 September 2017

People with paraplegia may someday be able to hit their stride in a so-called bionic suit thanks to an US$8 million federal research grant to three Southern California universities, officials announced on Wednesday, writes Dana Bartholomew for the Los Angeles Business Journal.

The National Science Foundation awarded the Cyber-Physical Systems Frontier grant to Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California, the University of California, Irvine, and the California Institute of Technology.

The five-year grant will fund the development of a fully implantable brain-machine interface device that could restore the ability to walk and restore sensation to the lower body, allowing users to ‘feel’ while they walk. The brain-machine device will transmit commands to a robotic exoskeleton for walking that will then transmit sensory information back to the brain.
Full report on the Los Angeles Business Journal site

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