66. Personalized Exoskeletons & Treating Parkinson's
Daniel Scott Mitchell and Farbod Moghaddam discuss two recent advances in exoskeleton technology: the MayoXO sensor array from Harvard, which uses carbon fiber 'slinkies' to quantitatively monitor Parkinson's disease progression, and a personalized exoskeleton system from the University of Michigan that allows users to dynamically tune torque and timing settings for comfort and efficiency. The hosts highlight how MayoXO addresses the lack of quantitative data in drug development by providing durable, scalable strain sensors, while the Michigan system solves adoption issues by letting users self-optimize their device settings via a tablet interface. They conclude that these human-centric approaches—focusing on data fidelity and user experience—are critical for moving exoskeletons from lab prototypes to real-world clinical and industrial applications.