Michael Straight said Lifeward refused to repair his $100,000 exoskeleton, which only had a minor issue with its battery.

A former jockey who was left paralyzed from the waist down after a horse riding accident was able to walk again thanks to a cutting-edge piece of robotic tech: a $100,000 ReWalk Personal exoskeleton.

When one of its small parts malfunctioned, however, the entire device stopped working. Desperate to gain his mobility back, he reached out to the manufacturer, Lifeward, for repairs. But it turned him away, claiming his exoskeleton was too old, *404 media *reports.

“After 371,091 steps my exoskeleton is being retired after 10 years of unbelievable physical therapy,” Michael Straight posted on Facebook earlier this month. “The reasons why it has stopped is a pathetic excuse for a bad company to try and make more money.”

    • crystenn@lemmy.mlEnglish
      41·
      10 months ago

      he’s not asking for a warranty claim or replacement, he’s asking for a repair service. it’s like taking your 10 year old accord to the service center to get some bushings/mounts/battery or whatever replaced

    • Dran@lemmy.worldEnglish
      361·
      10 months ago

      I don’t think anyone should expect a battery replacement to be free after 10 years, but it shouldn’t cost $100,000

    • Stopthatgirl7@lemmy.worldOPEnglish
      34·
      10 months ago

      Respectfully requesting that in the future, you read articles before replying.

      And:

      According to Straight, the issue was caused by a piece of wiring that had come loose from the battery that powered a wristwatch used to control the exoskeleton. This would cost peanuts for Lifeward to fix up, but it refused to service anything more than five years old, Straight said.

      “I find it very hard to believe after paying nearly $100,000 for the machine and training that a $20 battery for the watch is the reason I can’t walk anymore?” he wrote on Facebook.

      This is all over a battery in a watch.

    • pyre@lemmy.worldEnglish
      10·
      10 months ago

      dude’s paid $10k a year just to do what we can do for free. I don’t think that’s “pretty good”. if I pay $100k on anything it better work for life

    • stoly@lemmy.worldEnglish
      9·
      10 months ago

      lol lol

      You: he was about to move around for a few years and should be happy with that and accept his paralyzed state

    • I Cast Fist@programming.devEnglish
      8·
      10 months ago

      Yours is one of the most well deserved downvotes. Dude got paralyzed, literally cannot walk or stand anymore, received the exoskeleton (which was paid for in full by a fundraiser back in 2015) and the company simply decided “nah, we don’t touch anything older than 5 years”, knowing full well that this is NOT a disposable device and that Michael would need it for the rest of his life.

      Keep in mind Lifewalk, the company behind the exoskeleton, didn’t even try to come up with a public bullshit reason to deny maintenance to a device that they knew full well would be used for the rest of the person’s life, or upsell a newer model.