An exoskeleton essentially does the walking

An exoskeleton essentially does the walking for its wearer. The Indego's gyroscopes and accelerometers continuously observe and regulate a person's posture and return them to the balance point. They can also adjust the control level based on how much muscle strength wearers have. To stand up, the wearer tilts his torso forward. Once up, the wearer tilts his upper body forward again, making the device vibrate around the waist of the exoskeleton. That indicates that a step forward is imminent. If he pulls back a bit, it stops, but if he stays tilted slightly it will continue moving his legs until he leans back a little.  This is same way we learn to walk, by controlling our fall by stepping a leg forward. Eventually, we stop thinking we're falling and start walking in every direction.

The Indego machine makes the step for an immobile leg, and turning a corner is more about making tiny shoulder turns in the direction you want to go. "The experience is very intuitive and very natural," says Ryan Farris, the young engineer who co-invented the device at Goldfarb's renowned lab at Vanderbilt. Farris is now an engineering manager at Parker Hannifin's Human Motion and Control Unit in Cleveland, Ohio.Human exoskeletons and rehab care are a bit far afield for industrial stalwart Parker Hannifin, but health care offers a nice, high-margin opportunity for a slow-growing company that grosses $13 billion a year from filters, pumps, motors, valves and seals for automotive, aerospace and manufacturing customers.

It's not that far afield when you consider that exoskeletons are well within the wheelhouse of Parker's decades of expertise in motion control and fittings for airplanes and assembly lines.Engineers paid special attention to making Indego very slim-profile. There's no backpack; nothing comes under the feet so you can use whatever shoes you want. "It was designed to be a device people can use in their home or in the community and not require another person to drag it around for them and help put it on. It was designed for independence," says Dr. Goldfarb.