Wandercraft chairman Nicolas and company colleagues, including co-founder Jean and engineer Matthieu Masselin, present the company’s personal exoskeleton in a keynote with rehabilitation researcher Dr. Anne Spungen and user Kevin.
Nicolas connects his family’s experience with Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease to his interest in restoring the ability to walk. Jean describes his son Oscar asking for a robot that could help him walk, and explains that existing exoskeletons required crutches and had limited movement. The founders say they joined forces in 2012 to pursue a self-balancing design for everyday use.
Matthieu Masselin says Wandercraft’s Atalante exoskeleton is used in hospitals to help patients practice walking after conditions such as stroke or spinal cord injury. He reports European approval in 2019, U.S. FDA clearance in 2023, use in 50 rehabilitation hospitals, and more than 2,000 patients served. The company’s newer personal device is intended to support standing and movement at home and in public.
The personal exoskeleton has 12 motorized joints and is designed for standing, walking, stair climbing, and squatting. Masselin describes 27 sensors and a system that processes more than 75,000 data points each second to estimate the user and device’s position. The team also describes balance control, frequent movement replanning, and vision sensors that map obstacles such as stairs and slopes.
Dr. Anne Spungen summarizes research on exoskeleton-assisted walking for people with spinal cord injuries and other mobility limitations. She says studies found that four to six hours of weekly use was associated with changes including higher energy expenditure, better sleep, and improvements in bowel and bladder function. She notes that self-balancing devices are designed to address earlier limitations, including reliance on crutches and difficulty maneuvering in small spaces.
The team demonstrates how Kevin, who has complete paraplegia of the lower limbs, can enter and operate the device. A handheld controller adjusts modes, direction, and speed, while a back sensor reads upper-body movements as input. Wandercraft says clinical trials are planned for 2024 and that it expects to open preorders.
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Matthieu Masselin, CEO of Wandercraft, explains how the company designs its Atalante exoskeleton to help people with different bodies and impairments walk, in a Legged Robots workshop hosted by Aaron.
