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Paralyzed Man Unable to Walk After Maker of His Powered Exoskeleton Tells Him It's Now Obsolete (futurism.com)

submitted 1 month ago by Stopthatgirl7@lemmy.world to c/technology@lemmy.world

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A former jockey who was left paralyzed from the waist down after a horse riding accident was able to walk again thanks to a cutting-edge piece of robotic tech: a $100,000 ReWalk Personal exoskeleton.

When one of its small parts malfunctioned, however, the entire device stopped working. Desperate to gain his mobility back, he reached out to the manufacturer, Lifeward, for repairs. But it turned him away, claiming his exoskeleton was too old, *404 media *reports.

"After 371,091 steps my exoskeleton is being retired after 10 years of unbelievable physical therapy," Michael Straight posted on Facebook earlier this month. "The reasons why it has stopped is a pathetic excuse for a bad company to try and make more money."

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[–] Liz@midwest.social 7 points 1 month ago (2 children)

So I looked them up, and the cheapest home-style refrigerator they sell costs $10,000. Am I missing something or are they really just that expensive?

[–] T00l_shed@lemmy.world 6 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Well, for one, they support 60 year old devices.

[–] Liz@midwest.social 8 points 1 month ago

Yeah, but your fridge doesn't break every six years. I'm totally on team repair (FrameWork will be my next laptop when this one can't go on any further, my shoes can be resoled, I just touched up my jacket, etc) but a 10x premium doesn't exactly make sense, even when you factor in that repairability is unfortunately a niche feature these days.

[–] interdimensionalmeme@lemmy.ml 2 points 1 month ago

Sure but they use a 5$ door hinge instead of a 3$ one and that makes all the difference