https://www.reuters.com/lifestyle/father-builds-exoskeleton-help-wheelchair-bound-son-walk-2021-07-26/ Welcome to the Reuters.com BETA. Read our Editor's note on how we're helping professionals make smart decisions. Read more Skip to main content * World * Business * Legal * Markets * More Sign In Menu July 27, 20213:28 PM UTCLast Updated ago Lifestyle Father builds exoskeleton to help wheelchair-bound son walk Yiming Woo * * * * 2 minute read PARIS, July 26 (Reuters) - "Robot, stand up" - Oscar Constanza, 16, gives the order and slowly but surely a large frame strapped to his body lifts him up and he starts walking. Fastened to his shoulders, chest, waist, knees and feet, the exoskeleton allows Oscar - who has a genetic neurological condition that means his nerves do not send enough signals to his legs - to walk across the room and turn around. "Before, I needed someone to help me walk ... this makes me feel independent," said Oscar, as his father Jean-Louis Constanza, one of the co-founders of the company that makes the exoskeleton, looks on. "One day Oscar said to me: 'dad, you're a robotic engineer, why don't you make a robot that would allow us to walk?'" his father recalls, speaking at the company Wandercraft's headquarters in Paris. "Ten years from now, there will be no, or far fewer, wheelchairs," he said. Kevin Piette, exoskeleton pilot, demonstrates a robot exoskeleton created by French company Wandercraft to help wheelchair-bound patients learn or re-learn how to walk, in Asnieres-sur-Seine, France, July 22, 2021. REUTERS/Sarah Meyssonnier Jean-Louis Constanza, Chief Business and Clinical Officer at French company Wandercraft helps his 16-year-old son Oscar using a robot exoskeleton at the company headquarters in Paris, France July 9, 2021. Picture taken July 9, 2021. REUTERS/Christian Hartmann Oscar Constanza, 16, uses a robot exoskeleton made by French company Wandercraft at their headquarters in Paris, France July 9, 2021. Picture taken July 9, 2021. REUTERS/Christian Hartmann 1/6 Jean-Louis Constanza, Chief Business and Clinical Officer at French company Wandercraft helps his 16-year-old son Oscar using a robot exoskeleton at the company headquarters in Paris, France July 9, 2021. Picture taken July 9, 2021. REUTERS/Christian Hartmann Read More Other companies across the world are also manufacturing exoskeletons, competing to make them as light and usable as possible. Some are focused on helping disabled people walk, others on a series of applications, including making standing less tiring for factory workers. Wandercraft's exoskeleton, an outer frame that supports but also simulates body movement, has been sold to dozens of hospitals in France, Luxembourg and the United States, for about 150,000 euros ($176,000) a piece, Constanza said. It cannot yet be bought by private individuals for everyday use - that is the next stage the company is working on. A personal skeleton would need to be much lighter, Wandercraft engineers said. Just outside Paris, 33-year-old Kevin Piette, who lost the ability to walk in a bike accident 10 years ago, tries one on, walking around his flat, remote controller in hand. "In the end it's quite similar: instead of having the information going from the brain to the legs, it goes from the remote controller to the legs," he said, before making his dinner and walking with it from the kitchen to the living room. Reporting by Yiming Woo Writing by Ingrid Melander; Editing by Janet Lawrence Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles. More from Reuters Sign up for our newsletter Subscribe for our daily curated newsletter to receive the latest exclusive Reuters coverage delivered to your inbox. 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