A B.C. company says it is two years away from producing a robotic suit that could help paraplegics and stroke victims to walk again.

Freedom Medical Robotics of Richmond is working with the provincial government and with doctors at Vancouver's GF Strong Rehabilitation Centre on the new technology.

Robotics engineer Doug Kind is heading up the project to develop what he calls the "freedom suit."

It's a thin, wearable robotic exoskeleton that will use 32 sensors to assist the disabled to walk, using a combination of battery power and power from the person's own body.

Kind says similar technology has already been developed in the U.S., for use in the military.

He says the medical community was sceptical at first, but has become more confident this technology has the potential to restore the ability to walk for some.

"It will happen. It's not a question of 'if' now, it's a question of how long it will take for the production pieces to get to a point where everyone says, 'Oh yes, that's normal now.'"

Friend's death prompted research

Kind, who has developed high-tech projects for the military and the private sector, says he changed course after a wheelchair-bound friend developed gangrenous bedsores due to being immobile.
 
"Six weeks later, he was dead. At that point, I said to myself, 'This doesn't make sense to me. I know technology-wise, we could solve this if we put some energy into it.'"

There are now prototypes of the new suit, and Kind says his team is working with paraplegics, sorting out the complexities of balance, human motion and safety.