this post was submitted on 02 Oct 2024
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A former jockey who was left paralyzed from the waist down after a horse riding accident was able to walk again thanks to a cutting-edge piece of robotic tech: a $100,000 ReWalk Personal exoskeleton.

When one of its small parts malfunctioned, however, the entire device stopped working. Desperate to gain his mobility back, he reached out to the manufacturer, Lifeward, for repairs. But it turned him away, claiming his exoskeleton was too old, *404 media *reports.

"After 371,091 steps my exoskeleton is being retired after 10 years of unbelievable physical therapy," Michael Straight posted on Facebook earlier this month. "The reasons why it has stopped is a pathetic excuse for a bad company to try and make more money."

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[–] [email protected] 14 points 2 months ago
[–] [email protected] 11 points 2 months ago (1 children)

371k steps over 10 years is like 100 steps per day. Is it really slow, or did he only use it once a week?

[–] [email protected] 32 points 2 months ago (1 children)

My guess is he would use a wheelchair at home where the area is prepared to accommodate it. The exoskeleton is likely slower and harder to wear around the house, but can make him mobile in places where a wheelchair can't go.

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[–] [email protected] 78 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Poor guy, I guess legally he hasn’t got a leg to stand on.

[–] [email protected] 21 points 2 months ago

Thnx, that was some dark humor that really hit the spot for me.

[–] [email protected] 124 points 2 months ago (2 children)

This is why nobody should ever put any tech in their brain. Among 50 billion other reasons.

[–] [email protected] 79 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (6 children)

Oh that already happened too. A bunch of blind people got implants and the company abandoned them.

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[–] [email protected] 203 points 2 months ago (2 children)

Fortunately, Lifeward eventually capitulated and Straight was able to get his exoskeleton repaired — but that was only after an intense campaign in which he went on local TV, got highlighted in a horse industry publication, and gained steam on social media. If it weren't for that, he could still be struggling to find a way to get his mobility back again.

Uhg, needed bad PR before they changed their mind

[–] [email protected] 37 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (2 children)

got highlighted in a horse industry publication

Wait what?

Edit: duh, he was a jockey. I should let the moment of confusion settle before replying.

[–] [email protected] 34 points 2 months ago
[–] [email protected] 16 points 2 months ago (1 children)
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[–] [email protected] 40 points 2 months ago (2 children)

He shouldn’t stand for this!

[–] [email protected] 4 points 2 months ago

Guilty upvote for you

[–] [email protected] 13 points 2 months ago (2 children)

He can't. He's paralyzed and his exoskeleton is broken.

On a more serious note, the 404media article (login wall) reports the problem was that the wristwatch controller for the exoskeleton had its battery wire's solder joint break. They seem to be trying to frame it as a right to repair issue, but that's a trivial repair for anyone with basic electronics experience.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

Best to use the archived links bypasses the login barrier, as well as paywalls.

[–] [email protected] 27 points 2 months ago (1 children)

It’s a trivial repair assuming that’s the extent of the damage and there’s not any quirks associated with an extremely complex medical device that has no documentation whatsoever. Like maybe after not having the controller’s power supply connected for such a length of time there needs to be a calibration process upon bringing it back to life that can only be done with proprietary software

The biggest thing though is that by going in and fixing it yourself you open yourself to the possibility that the company will now say “oh this was worked on by someone else and that’s why it’s broken, we won’t work on it now”. That’s the state of repair rights in America, vendors are openly hostile to people who fix their own things even if they do it sufficiently. We used to have political representation that gave us regulations to allow us to work on and even modify our cars without impacting the warranty but that’s been eroded and there’s not really anything of that nature for tech stuff (other than judgements saying broken warranty seals don’t count for anything)

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 months ago

here’s not really anything of that nature for tech stuff

The Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act does not exclude tech stuff. The problem is that it's a lot harder to work on tech stuff without insider information than 1970s cars.

[–] [email protected] 150 points 2 months ago (1 children)

The future is stupid, we were promised jetpacks, not planned obsolescence mobility devices.

[–] [email protected] 18 points 2 months ago

Oh, we already have jetpacks. They're just not affordable for the average person and are insanely dangerous to fly with. Also, afaik, they only get less than an hour of flight time.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 2 months ago

He should send it to StezStixFix.

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