Copyright © Françoise Herrmann
For stroke victims, and other types of patients with various degrees of impaired mobility due to illness, accidents, or age, Lifebloom’s Oxilio is a combination wheelchair and exoskeleton. A combination wheelchair-exoskeleton that offers increased opportunities to safely stand and walk, with or without a physical therapist present. Indeed, patients using Oxilio are reported to spend six times more time standing and walking, compared to those who train only in therapy sessions at a specialized physical therapy facility. For this purpose, Oxilio has included an onboard app that guides patients through self-training exercises, while their movements are being monitored and recorded with sensors, for therapist review.
The Lifebloom Oxilio combination wheelchair-exoskeleton was researched, designed, and produced at the Institut Pasteur in Lille, France, and tested at the Hôpital Pitié-Salpérière in Paris, France, with the participation of hundreds of wheelchair-bound patients. Thus, Oxilio's design responds to the patients’ greatest concerns for safety and the fear of falling by offering safe verticality and mobility. As a result, patients who might lose their balance just fall back into the Oxilio wheelchair. In turn, the designed safety greatly enhances user confidence and use at home, which greatly increases the positive outcomes for improved verticality, mobility and well-being (McCulloch, 2024).
According to Damien Roche, Lifebloom Founder, CEO and co-inventor, an estimated 132 million people are wheelchair-bound in the world, with deteriorating health, aggravated by their inability to stand and walk, while many still retain some leg function. Oxilio’s mission is to assist screened patients in recovering their verticality, beyond just a few steps.
The award-winning Oxilio invention, is recited in the US utility patent US11471361B2, titled Wheelchair for assisting walking. The patent was granted on October 18, 2022, and awarded to Marc Bardgett and Damien Roche. The patent recites the wheelchair-exoskeleton's mechanical properties. Succinctly, the invention comprises linear actuators, mechanically connected to the wheelchair-exoskeleton chassis, and to a base plate that moves from a low sitting position to a high walking position, using a position-changing device.
The patent Figure 24, included below, depicts an embodiment of the invention in an intermediate position, between the low sitting position, and the high walking position, including a user U performing an upward forward motion to switch to the high walking position. The still pictures, beneath the patent Figure 24, depict a user self-training, practicing sitting and standing without using hands.
The patent Figure 24 further depicts the various parts of the wheelchair-exoskeleton. Specifically, the Figure 24 depicts: the backrest 20, preventing the user U from falling rearward, and one of the retaining members 7D (on the right), preventing the user U from falling forward. The (right) armrest 660, comprising the arm support 662 and cushioned fitting 661. The small central rear wheel 5RC, used to better maneuver the wheelchair-exoskeleton. The right 5FD and left 5FG front wheels, smaller than the conventionally large right 5RD and left 5RG rear wheels, which might be used to steer the wheelchair more swiftly. The right 10D and left 10G footrests, pivotally connected to the chassis 3, raised in the high walking position so as not to impede walking, and lowered in the low sitting position, for the user to rest their feet. The patent Figure 24 also depicts the locking member 200 and locking pin 206, designed to lock the base plate in the low sitting position and to unlock the base plate in the high walking position.
For those skilled in the art, the abstract of the invention, included below, will provide additional mechanical details.
The invention concerns a wheelchair for assisting walking. The wheelchair comprises a chassis, a movable base that can move relative to the chassis between a low seating position and a high walking position, and a device for changing the position of the base. The device for changing the linear actuator is configured to bias the movable base towards the high position by means of the arm. (Abstract US11471361B2)
The reference section includes a YouTube video (in French), with footage showing the Oxilio wheelchair-exoskeleton in use.
References
https://www.lifebloom.eu/
French Tech: Lifebloom, une solution pour remarcher. YouTube (video in French)
https://youtu.be/j_BzYjm7dyE
Hôpital Pitié-Salpétriere de Paris (website)
https://www.connexionfrance.com/practical/french-hospitals-revolutionary-exoskeleton-enables
