Ekso Bionics Holdings, Inc., a robotic exoskeleton company, today announced that the latest Ekso Bionics robotic gait therapy software upgrade, first available in Europe, will be revealed at the 28th Annual Meeting of the German Speaking Medical Society for Paraplegia (DMGP) in Kassel, Germany.
The four-day congress attracts medical specialists and paraplegia experts from all over the world to address the challenges in bringing high quality, comprehensive and successful treatment of paraplegic patients.
Ekso GT™ with SmartAssist™ features include: the next generation of adaptive assistance software, enabling a greater number of interactive steps; PreGait, a suite of early mobilization activities for pre-ambulatory patients preparing for gait therapy; and FreeGait, an advanced mode for patients progressing to community ambulation.
As previously announced at Rehab Week, this new Ekso GT package will also support integration of Functional Electric Stimulation (FES) from Hasomed for research use, providing the opportunity for facilities operating under research protocols to partner with Ekso to advance research on complimentary therapies.
Ekso GT with new SmartAssist software supports a broader spectrum of patients who are more actively engaged in their rehabilitation. The new SmartAssist programming provides patients with an unparalleled ability to vary the step path based on their own effort. High step variability has been associated with enhanced locomotor rehabilitation.
"Ekso GT with SmartAssist software is developed to expand the applications for use within clinics. We believe the addition of pre-gait exercises will facilitate earlier mobility for some patients who could not have otherwise been mobile and our new FreeGait advanced mode can help patients at a late stage in the recovery process ambulate more freely while progressing to community ambulation," says Darrell Musick, PT and VP of Clinical Services.
The Company's commercial plan anticipates an initial launch of the SmartAssist robotic gait therapy software package for Ekso GT in Europe by the end of 2015. The SmartAssist software is not yet available in the United States.