Our pilot was born with Muscular Dystrophy; unable to move his legs. This forced him to depend on wheelchairs and brought additional complications spanning body and mind. Unable to walk on his own, independence became something unusual for him.

In 2018, his grandmother heard of our project but our exoskeleton was not ready for him. We asked them to wait so we could be sure that Alice would be safe enough for him to wear. His grandmother was patient -yet insistent- and wrote back to us every month for the next ~12 months. After about a year of testing, detailing, and getting the appropriate clinical permissions, we were finally able to give them some good news.

In 2019, he made a first attempt at standing up and walking with the help of Alice, but he didn’t manage to do it. On his second try the day after, however, he was able to stand, walk, and wave for a photo without the help of anyone else.

This was an important day for the team, because we proved that Alice could indeed support children with high disability and up to 50kg + ~1.4m… but it was way more important because it made us feel that what we were doing could actually achieve something significant for others. He was one of 10 children who participated within our first user tests.