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Exoskeleton helps paraplegic kick off World Cup

A brain-controlled exoskeleton, shown in this artist's illustration, helped a paralyzed person make the first kick at the World Cup.

Walk Again Project

By Ashley Yeager

A paralyzed person wearing a brain-controlled robotic exoskeleton has made the first kick at the 2014 soccer World Cup in Brazil. The exoskeleton allowed the person to take a step and kick a ball by translating electrical signals from the patient’s brain into action. The successful kickoff to the competition is a big step in turning paralyzed people’s dreams of walking into reality.

For more on human exoskeletons, read SN‘s Mind to motion feature.

Credit: Raffi Zack/YouTube

About Ashley Yeager

Ashley Yeager is the associate news editor at Science News. She has worked at The Scientist, the Simons Foundation, Duke University and the W.M. Keck Observatory, and was the web producer for Science News from 2013 to 2015. She has a bachelor’s degree in journalism from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, and a master’s degree in science writing from MIT.

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