I bet if you were in a wheelchair you'd want to be able to walk, apparently unaided. You'd want to be your proper height and be able to interact with others who saw you as simply a person, not a disabled person.
But if you're in a wheelchair, that's the first thing people see - they see the disability, not the ability. It's the same if you use a stick, crutches, a zimmer or need a plaster cast.
Our idea was to imagine (and then start to engineer) a world where there were no more wheelchairs. Where almost anyone could walk.
And we came up with WAM (Wearable Assistive Material) to do this.
Unlike big, bulky 'sci-fi' exoskeletons, this material contains thousands of tiny actuators and can be worn under your clothes and controlled by your brain - a truly wearable computerised device that changes its shape and enables you to do what you want.
And then we realised that because the material can be configured for the user, it could be used by absolutely anyone on the planet - not just for disabled people, but also as a support for tired or damaged muscles, as a device to help the elderly feel stronger and get rid of their zimmers or even made completely rigid and worn instead of a big, bulky plaster cast.
And it could help people have confidence to take up high energy sports like skiing, long distance running and so on.
Engineers, physicists, chemists, biomechanics and orthopaedic experts at UCL have come together to create a wearable assistive material that is smart, can be configured for the user and can give any level of support for any area of the body whilst still being able to be worn invisibly under clothes, giving the wearer total freedom of movement.
Imagine a world where you just see the person. Never the disability or the age or the fatigue or the injury.
The new generation of body exoskeletons is almost here...
Project name: UCL WAM - Wearable Assistive Material
Project Contacts: Professor Nick Tyler, Professor Mark Miodownik, Xenia Karekla
