The World Cup is kicking on in June, and the first game will take place on June 12 with Brazil and Croatia. However, neither team will be the first to kick the ball, that honor will go to a teenager who is paralyzed and is unable to walk.
Obviously, you must be shocked right now, probably scratching your head in disbelief. It's OK; it's not some miracle from out of the Bible, this is done by science. A young teenage boy will arise and kick a ball at the World Cup due to wearing an exoskeleton. We've only seen these things in the movies, but reality is finally catching up, and we're impressed.
The project, which is called "Walk Again Project," is headed by the Duke University Center for Neuroengineering. It also features the work from several universities and groups worldwide where the design of the exoskeleton is concerned. It is designed to allow the teen to stand, walk and then kick the ball. This is all possible due to a neurological interface inside a 3D printed helmet.
Interestingly enough, this interface will guide robotic limbs with the help of the teen's thoughts. So what we have here is an exoskeleton that relies on the thoughts of the wearer for the limbs to move, and that's extremely impressive if it works.
This isn't the first time we've heard of the Walk Again Project. It first came to light back in January of this year, and will not stop with this teenager alone. The end game is to help disabled persons back on their feet, even if they have to use an exoskeleton to do it.
"The Walk Again Project is a nonprofit, international collaboration among the Duke University Center for Neuroengineering, the Technical University of Munich, the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne, the Edmond and Lily Safra International Institute of Neuroscience of Natal in Brazil, The University of California, Davis, The University of Kentucky, and Regis Kopper of The Duke immersive Virtual Environment," says Duke University.
It's a very important research that could change the world as we know it, if things continue down the right path.
The teenager will be trained through a virtual reality simulation to use the exoskeleton before kick-off, so we should expect any surprises.
