At the Bionic Olympics, Athletes and Engineers Make Miracles: THE FUTURISTIC TECH AND HUMAN INGENUITY THAT'S REDEFINING WHAT IT MEANS TO BE PARALYZED

摘要

THE morning of the powered exoskeleton finals at the 2016 Cybathlon opened on a less-than-promising note. Mark Daniel, a 26-year-old former welder who'd been paralyzed from the waist down in a car accident at 18, was rushing down a ramp at the venue when his wheelchair caught on a post. He took a hard tumble out of his chair and onto the pavement. This alarmed his teammates, a group of six engineers and technicians from the Florida Institute for Human & Machine Cognition. They'd been working 12-hour days for months, designing, assembling, and refining the robotic exoskeleton suit for which Daniel served as the lone pilot. They had no Plan B. Given the public and media spotlight focused on the Cybathlon, careers could rise or fall depending on Daniel's performance.