‘It's remarkable what this thing can do’: Kelowna kids walk with the help of robotics

It was an emotional scene at the Kids Physio Group clinic last weekend as children walked with the help of a robotic machine, some for the first time in their lives.

“He loved it very much, and he enjoyed it,” said Arkadij Baum, whose son Zane got to try out one of the machines.

“(He) had (the) biggest smile on his face today.”

In town and visiting the physiotherapy clinic was a team from Trexo Robotics with their exoskeleton machines from Ontario.

“It's hard for these families to get access to the technology, and I know, personally, my son uses one of these devices, and the only reason I even did it in the first place is because of proximity, I was able to try it out,” explained Marc Robert, a sales specialist with Trexo Robotics.

“To expect these families to be able to take their kids across the country, to do that is not realistic. So we do it instead, and we bring them (the exoskeleton machines) out to the major cities, and we let everybody know ahead of time so that they can come in and try it out.”

Each child who tried out one of the exoskeletons varied in their ability to walk, and so, with each session, the machine was specially fitted to the child, tweaked and tested to let them walk with various amounts of help from the machine.

Once completely fitted and ready to go, the emotions began to flow as some shed tears of joy while others had big smiles.

“Being upright is something we take for granted a lot of times, like being able to be upright and walk. Walking is a very complex activity, so is standing upright. There are lots of systems in play that keep us in those positions, and they're really important to us from a body standpoint,” said Kelowna Kids Physio Group physiotherapist/co-owner Angus MacKay.

“Because not only are you using your muscles, but it's also an activity that can be a really great social experience, because you're upright with friends or peers, you're at eye level, you can communicate and play with them at eye level, you can move with them, but also from a body systems perspective, this is really great for their circulation, it's really great for their digestion, really great for their bone and their hip development and strength overall.”

Following the clinic’s time with the machine this past weekend, the plan is for the company to leave one of the exoskeletons at the clinic for at least a couple of months and potentially a year or even longer – all for free.

“It allows us to reach a new level of population, so children with maybe higher levels of disability, we can support them around the Okanagan and also throughout the Interior as well," explained MacKay.

For MacKay and others at the Kelowna Kids Physio Group, the long wait for the visit from Trexo was well worth it.

"Lots of people bawling their eyes out watching their kids walk for the first time. It's an experience," said Robert when asked what feedback he had heard/seen from the parents.

"It's basically always positive...It's remarkable what this thing can do. Just look at the kid's face as he rolls around here. He was frustrated. Now he's not frustrated."