UW Street Fair & LIFESUIT Field Repairs

May 16 & 17 2009 The crew from They Shall Walk was at the fair
with a booth and the LIFESUIT. For those who came by on Sunday they got
to see a special show of us repairing the LIFESUIT. It turns out that
while we were stress testing the bolts that hold the robot suits feet on
last year we were also stress testing the rest of the
LIFESUIT. Saturday I did 25 (twenty five) presentations and
demonstrations of the LIFESUIT to groups of 30 people.

At the UW Street Fair the LIFESUIT right hip strut broke after ten
miles of walking and 40 high jumps (six inches off of the ground). The
LIFESUIT was not designed to jump but it can. Part of the destructive
testing is to see what it takes to break one of these machines.
see more photos at the Contribution Networking Party
http://www.contributionnetworkingparty.com/photo/albums/uw-street-fair-2009-lifesuit
As I climbed into the LIFESUIT people would stop and form a semi-circle in the street and wait to see what I would do.
“For those of you who do not know, this is the LIFESUIT robotic
exoskeleton designed to allow paralyzed persons to walk again. This is
prototype fourteen in a series of thirty-six prototypes. We are working
to develop the future version of the LIFESUIT that will sit in a
physical therapy clinic. A paralyzed person will be able to park thier
wheelchair next to the LIFESUIT. If they have upper body strength they
can transfer into the LIFESUIT if not they can be placed into the
LIFESUIT. Once in the LIFESUIT they will be able to control it using a
joystick very much like the ones you see on a powered wheelchair. If
they use some other control system for their powered wheelchair such as a
sip and puff, head paddles, chin joystick or any other control
system it can be plugged into the LIFESUIT.
The LIFESUIT is a two legged balancing, walking robot that you can be
strapped to. When the robot walks it moves the user and they benefit
from mobility and most importantly passive exercise.
If they can drive a powered wheelchair they will be able to drive one
of these. The goal is for them to go to the clinic and walk in a
LIFESUIT three times per week. You and I are supposed to exercise every
day. Many paralyzed persons are authorized one physical therapy
session per month. If they exercise by walking in the LIFESUIT three
times per week the have a good chance of improving their muscle mass,
bone density, circulation, blood pressure and the over all attitude
about life in general.
We are a non profit research lab, the last grant we received was in
2007 from NASA. We need your support. If you think what we are doing
is important we need you to make a donation today or sign up to become a
monthly partner giving as little as $25 per month. We are giving the
gift of walking with your help. We can only do it if you help.”
Then I pushed the buttons and the LIFESUIT stood up taking me with
it. I continued to manipulate the controls and lean forward. The
LIFESUIT walked forward and backwards, stepped side to side and turned
around. I then sidestepped left and right to show the maneuverability
of the LIFESUIT. Turning away from the crowd I headed for the sidewalk,
stepped up the curb and turned around. Stepped down the curb and then
backed the LIFESUIT into the docking chair and sat down. Sometimes I
would wait for a couple of minutes to answer questions and for a new
crowd to form. Then I would start over. Sometimes I would climb out of
the LIFESUIT, get some water and some shade and then go to it again.
It is estimated there is 10,000 people who attend the UW street fair
every year. I think I personally talked to about nine hundred people on
Saturday and seven hundred on Sunday.
When we unloaded the LIFESUIT on Sunday I notice the right leg
severed at the hip and came off. I had to think quick. We needed a
welder or some other fix. In the future we will have a van loaded with a
workbench, tools and a small machine shop on board but today we did not
have that.

I made a call to Mike Payson from Maximum Robotics.
It was nine o’clock Sunday morning. Within minutes Mike was on his way
with his welder and some basic tools I would need to make the repairs.

In a short time Mike had arrived a block from our booth with the
welder. The Lutheran Center agreed to allow us to use the power. We
tried to do the repair job on the sidewalk but too many people gathered
around and seemed to want to stare at the plasma. It would have caused
some damage if we let them. We tried to block their view but some
people were insistent and persistent.

Fortunately we were able to load the LIFESUIT into the garage and
work in private and safety. Geoff Garvey assisted me in the repairs.
Within a few minutes I was able to re weld the hip and reinforce a
flange where the steal was tearing.
A few more minutes later and the LIFESUIT was up and walking again.

We got six new volunteers over the weekend and a couple more monthly partners.
Thank You for reading. Please make a donation to They Shall Walk. You can do it online or mail in to
6201 15th Ave NW #542, Seattle, WA 98107