Invention Awards 2014: A Powerful, Portable, And Affordable Robotic Exoskeleton

Titan Arm Photo by Marius Bugge Surviving a stroke or debilitating injury is often the start of a very long ordeal. Physical therapy can be slow and strenuous with no guarantee of recovery. Robotic exoskeletons can sometimes provide the support a ravaged body needs to heal--and strength when it can't--but they typically cost more than a car and must be anchored to a wall and plugged into a socket. In late 2012, a team of mechanical engineering students at University of Pennsylvania set out to bu...