Developing Rex, The Hands - Free robotic exoskeleton - Test pilot jarard pearce

Hi I'm Jarard Pearce and I've been using Rex for 3 months now. I've been in a wheelchair for 5 years now and getting up and walking for the first time was something that I've always been trying to do since I had my accident, and it just blows you away to be able to get up and do that again. When I want to stand up, I just select stand on the menu, push the joystick forward, and then stand up. Same thing when you want to walk. You select walk, push the joystick forward again and you're walking. It's that easy. Using Rex really helps me in transferring my weight and moving my body a lot more than you do sitting in a wheelchair and people have often asked me what it's like to use Rex and for me it's easier than riding my quad bike. Once I get in there I just don't want to get out. Using Rex at home would be real beneficial for me in my own workshop at home and engineering, you know, I do a lot of welding in my shed and am often burning my legs and using a bench and things that you can't really do sitting down and standing up and getting into those proper positions you're meant to be in would help me a lot. For my partner to come and see me standing up for the first time ever; she's only known me in a wheelchair and for her to stand up and get close and hug me and that, was a great experience for us. Stability-wise, Rex feels really stable, standing and walking around in it. There's no problem at all really and you realise that it's something that you can easily do and after a while you just want to unstrap those straps and walk on out of the machine, which I think it would help you to do one day. Rex is real easy to use, you just get up and walk along and it's no different to how it used to be. It's just one step in front of the other the way that you used to walk. I always said since my accident that I was gonna walk before I was 30, which was about 6 months ago and Rex has enabled me to do that in one way or form and yeah, my friends just can't wait to see that too. Working with the guys at Rex Bionics is really enjoyable and it's like a big family and they take you in and make you feel at home and really, really help you take those steps and make it all worthwhile for you.