Tetraplegic man walks in brain-linked exoskeleton

A 30-year-old Frenchman named Thibault paralysed from the shoulders down after a fall four years ago has taken his first steps in a laboratory thanks to an exoskeleton “suit” developed by biomedical research centre Clinatec and the University of Grenoble. The suit, which is controlled by brain implants, also helps Thibault to move his arms, but so far can only be used in laboratory with a tether attached to the ceiling to prevent it from falling.

The technology was designed by lead researcher Prof Alim-Louis Benabid, president of the Clinatec executive board, who was previously notable for developing the deep brain stimulation technique to treat the rigidity and tremors caused by Parkinson’s disease, for which he won the European Patent Office Inventors Award for research in 2016. Benabid and his colleagues published their research in The Lancet Neurology, which describes Thibault’s case as a proof of concept.