Ekso Bionics Holdings Inc. was awarded a P20 Exploratory Grant from the National Institutes of Health to continue the development of an exoskeleton prototype for children.
The work will be done in collaboration with the Department of Pediatric Rehabilitation at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) Benioff Children’s Hospital Oakland and will consist of Ekso Bionics developing a pediatric version of its Ekso GT robotic exoskeleton. The suit design and function will be made in collaboration with Christine Aguilar, MD, medical director of pediatric rehabilitation medicine, and Robert Haining, MD, associate director of rehabilitation medicine of UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital Oakland, for children aged 5 years (approximately 42 inches tall and 40 pounds) to about 8 years old (approximately 50 inches tall and 56 pounds) with neurologic disorders that result in gait deficiencies such as spinal cord injury, stroke, traumatic brain injury and cerebral palsy.
“This NIH grant and partnership with UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital Oakland gives us the real opportunity to intervene early in a child’s life and potentially help them improve their walking skills and overall quality of life,” Katie Strausser, PhD, director of research at Ekso Bionics, stated in a press release.
