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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

88 comments fedilink hide all child comments

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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[–] Maggoty@lemmy.world 79 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (3 children)

Oh that already happened too. A bunch of blind people got implants and the company abandoned them.

[–] LiveLM@lemmy.zip 13 points 1 month ago (1 children)

The first thing that came to mind.
This is turning into a pattern now, fuck, I wish the lawmakers would fucking do something about it!

Context for other readers: 'Their Bionic Eyes Are Now Obsolete and Unsupported' by Eliza Strickland and Mark Harris.
It's a disgrace.

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

That is a horrific outcome.

Free-licence the Argus IP now.

[–] Duamerthrax@lemmy.world 8 points 1 month ago

Any private, medical IP that gets abandoned should be eminent domained. If your company is going under or you don't want to maintain it, either sell the ip to company that will maintain it or open it up.

[–] Phoenicianpirate@lemm.ee 11 points 1 month ago

That came to mind, too. If this shit isn't open source it is not worth spit.

[–] drunkpostdisaster@lemmy.world 3 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Even for a corporation that is fucked up.

[–] Maggoty@lemmy.world 4 points 1 month ago

We need to stop buying into this whole beneficial corporation idea.