An eight-year-old boy with cerebral palsy has been restricted to a wheelchair all his life, but he recently took his first steps thanks to a robotic exoskeleton designed specifically for children. David Zabala was fitted with a new Atlas 2030 exoskeleton that features mechanical joints that adapt to his motions, allowing him to finally walk freely. The innovation is part of a therapy method being used at a facility in Mexico City, because research shows that allowing paralyzed children the opportunity to walk'not only extends their life expectancy and enhances their physical well-being, but also improves their self-esteem.' The suit helps'to achieve in record time rehabilitation goals' that would take months to achieve with conventional therapies, Guadalupe Maldonado, director of Mexico's Association for People with Cerebral Palsy told AFP. The suit was create by Elena García Armada who won the 2022 European Inventor Award for the innovation.

From home, healthcare and manufacturing to transportation, education to the environment, robots have already touched almost all aspects of our lives. With rapid advances in Artificial Intelligence (AI), machine learning, and numerous other technologies, robots are becoming more capable, and affordable. Here are some of the robotic innovations that, in the not-so-distant future, will become widespread and change the way we live and work forever, making lives more convenient and meaningful. Delta Air Lines, in partnership with Sarcos Robotics, has developed a first-of-its-kind wearable robotic exoskeleton, the Guardian XO, a battery-powered industrial robot combining human intelligence with the power of machines. The robotic suit that can be donned and doffed unassisted in less than 30 seconds may enable a worker to lift up to 90kg (200 pounds) repeatedly for up to eight hours at a time without strain or fatigue or injury.

With so much debate around the ethical use of technology, news like this certainly provides hope for the future. I personally believe technology will provide the biggest breakthroughs in the Healthcare industry and this is just another example of that happening. A 30-year-old Frenchman named Thibault, who was paralyzed from the shoulders down was able to walk in the controlled environment of a lab in an exoskeleton suit. For someone who hasn't been able to walk for the four two years due to a spinal injury, imagine the emotions he must have gone through when he took that first small step. Earlier, I had written about a couple of other mind-reading devices already in the making.

A robotic exoskeleton and performance art installation is automating the discipline of synchronized dance. At San Francisco's Gray Area Festival, an annual event that combines art, technology, and music, an exhibit called'Inferno' is employing robotics to turn people into puppets. With an exoskeleton and a'dark industrial' soundtrack, Inferno is commandeering participants' limbs for an enthralling -- if off-putting -- performance. Participants in the piece are subject to the input of a'DJ' who controls both the music and how subjects dance to it'Each robot is designed to perform dynamic movements choreographed and activated by the artists, mobilizing the performers to dance in time to the dark, industrial techno soundtrack for the audience,' says a description on the event's website. The installation, which described by one Twitter user as a'forced rave' is not just fascinating to watch, but according to the routine's creators, Louis-Philippe Demers and Bill Vorn, is designed to stoke conversations about agency and technology.

Then came my first step. I had been ready to repeat Neil Armstrong's "one small step" phrase, half in jest, but it got stuck in my throat. I was gripped by a fear of falling. The device felt more wobbly than I imagined. The time it took to regain my balance and shift my weight forward for my next step seemed like an eternity.

"This is very cutting edge," said Ela Plow, researcher at Cleveland FES Center and assistant professor at Cleveland Clinic's Lerner College of Medicine. "Telling the patient that they are completely injured is a very difficult process, because that means almost telling them that they have no potential for recovery. But then they took these patients and gave them long-term retraining through a mix of techniques and realized that they could generate a process of partial recovery.

Hyundai is best known for reasonably priced, reasonably good cars. But the Korean automaker wants to show it's as ready as anyone for a changing transportation landscape. Yes, Hyundai has made a line of robotic suits to help paraplegic patients walk, and to reduce back injuries in manual laborers. It may seem a strange move, but Hyundai researchers say that although autonomous cars hold the promise of giving back some freedom to people who can't drive, they're not much use if an aging global population can't get to the curb first. A robotic suit could help, and there's overlap in the sensors and software both need to operate safely. To see what these suits are all about, we strapped one on and flexed our new, electric muscles, in the video above.

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No one wants to walk with a walker, but age has a way of making people compromise on their quality of life. The team behind Superflex, which spun out of SRI International in May, thinks there could be another way. The company is building wearable robotic suits, plus other types of clothing, that can make it easier for soldiers to carry heavy loads or for elderly or disabled people to perform basic tasks. A current prototype is a soft suit that fits over most of the body. It delivers a jolt of supporting power to the legs, arms, or torso exactly when needed to reduce the burden of a load or correct for the body's shortcomings. A walker is a "very cost-effective" solution for people with limited mobility, but "it completely disempowers, removes dignity, removes freedom, and causes a whole host of other psychological problems," SRI Ventures president Manish Kothari says.

Earlier this week, Amazon held a secret, invitation-only event for the machine-learning and robotics community. The three-day event, at the Parker Palm Springs resort in California, had hundreds of guests from the business, entertainment, and robotics sectors. Business Insider got photos of the event from one of the attendees. Here's what it was like: