Ekso Bionics Holdings, Richmond, California, announced that it has been awarded a P20 Exploratory Grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to continue the development of an exoskeleton prototype for children-a pediatric version of its Ekso GT™.
Ekso Bionics is collaborating with Christine Aguilar, MD, medical director, Pediatric Rehabilitation Medicine, and Robert Haining, MD, associate director, Rehabilitation Medicine at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) Benioff Children’s Hospital, Oakland, on suit design and function to be used for children with neurologic disorders that result in gait deficiencies, such as spinal cord injury, stroke, traumatic brain injury, and cerebral palsy. The suit will be developed for children ages five (about 42 inches tall and 40 pounds) to eight years old (about 50 inches tall and 56 pounds). Aguilar and Haining are also providing input on potential clinical testing and implementation of the suits. Following the development of an effective pediatric prototype, Ekso Bionics and UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital Oakland will discuss a sequential Phase II Grant.
