Architect Robert Woo, who became paraplegic following a workplace injury in 2007, has become the first person in the United States to be certified to purchase the new ReWalk Personal 6.0 System to use at home. The battery-powered, robotic exoskeleton manufactured by ReWalk Robotics, Inc., enables Mr. Woo to stand up and walk with forearm crutches. The 6.0 system relocates the computer and battery from a backpack to the back pelvic area for greater comfort, and has a redesigned frame that improves knee alignment.

Mr. Woo’s physician/physiatrist, Kristjan Ragnarsson, MD, the Dr. Lucy G. Moses Professor and Chair, Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, Mount Sinai Health System, was instrumental in starting the Exoskeletal training/evaluation program. Mr. Woo participated in a study with EksoTM, a similar device, at The Mount Sinai Hospital’s Rehabilitation Center in 2013, as part of a clinical trial with Allan J. Kozlowski, PhD, Assistant Professor of Rehabilitation Medicine, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. He completed ReWalk training at the James J. Peters VA Medical Center, Bronx, and became certified at Icahn School of Medicine to use the device at home.