Designers compete to get paralysed people moving

<p><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">Would being able to stand up improve the lives of wheelchair users?</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">Designers of an exoskeleton think it will - and they&#39;ve won half a million dollars to develop it.</span></p><p><img src="https://imedia-peoplesdaily.pdnews.cn/up/cms/www/201901/101014195jo3.jpg" title="VCG125515360_00002.jpg" alt="VCG125515360_00002.jpg"/></p><p><span style="color: rgb(127, 127, 127); font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">Video source: VCG</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">They&#39;re among five finalists in the Mobility Unlimited Challenge - a search for game-changing innovations to improve the lives of people with lower-limb paralysis.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">An ultra-light wheelchair that uses artificial intelligence and self-balancing technology to constantly adjust its center of gravity also caught the judges’ eyes.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">Another exoskeleton providing power and balance at the hips, knees and ankles was also on shortlist, as is a novel way of stimulating the leg muscles at precisely the right time to help someone walk.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">The competition is run by the Toyota Mobility Foundation in partnership with Nesta - the UK&#39;s Innovation Foundation.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">The ideas also included a smartphone based system to quickly power up a manual wheelchair.</span></p>