Paralysed man in France walks again with brain-controlled exoskeleton

The 28-year-old man is able to use his brain signals to control a computer-simulated avatar to perform basic movements

Scientists say this is a breakthrough, but is still years away from being publicly available

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French quadriplegic Thibault stands while wearing an exoskeleton at Clinatec laboratory at the University of Grenoble. Photo: AFP

Published: 3:29pm, 4 Oct 2019Updated: 10:48pm, 4 Oct 2019

A French man paralysed in a nightclub accident can walk again thanks to a brain-controlled exoskeleton in what scientists said was a breakthrough providing hope to quadriplegics seeking to regain movement.

The patient trained for months, harnessing his brain signals to control a computer-simulated avatar to perform basic movements before using the robot device to walk.

Doctors who conducted the trial cautioned that the device is years away from being publicly available but stressed that it had “the potential to improve patients’ quality of life and autonomy”.

The man involved, identified only as Thibault, a 28-year-old from Lyons, said the technology had given him a new lease of life.

A French scientist holds an implant placed between the brain and skin which reads the area of the brain which controls movement. Photo: AFP

Four years ago that life changed forever when he fell 12 metres from a balcony while on a night out, severing his spinal chord and leaving him paralysed from the shoulders down.

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