About this talk
As a patient struggling to walk after a serious accident on the drive across the country to graduate school, Kathleen O’Donnell became acutely aware of the role mobility can play in quality of life. With this new insight, Kathleen focused her studies on prosthetics and assisted devices. In her own words, “As I became more involved in medical robotics…I realized there are many non-traditional approaches to robotics, and that by transforming the way that we think about robots, we can transform our relationship with them and the types of challenges we can design them to solve.”
With this mindset, Kathleen became a part of the team adapting the “exosuit”, a soft wearable robot, to address mobility issues stemming from neurological disease. After hearing feedback from a patient, Kathleen found that the exosuit was more than a solution, but a form of liberation. Watch her 2018 TEDMED Talk to learn more about the field of medical robotics, the current strides that are being made and the future possibilities.
About Kathleen O’Donnell
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Kathleen O’Donnell is a respected leader in the field of medical robotics and design. She combines her background in biomedical engineering and industrial design to create innovative health solutions that are focused on the user. Kathleen’s work gained significant attention during her time at the Wyss Institute at Harvard University, where she led a program that developed medical exosuits. These are soft, wearable robots designed to assist patients in recovering and improving their walking ability, particularly after a stroke. Instead of being bulky like traditional robots, these exosuits are built into lightweight garments, making them easier and more comfortable for patients to use. In 2018, Kathleen joined ReWalk Robotics, which was later renamed Lifeward. In this role, she helped bring the exosuit technology she developed to a wider audience. The company’s focus is on creating and selling medical devices that help people with physical limitations and disabilities. Her work has been crucial in getting this technology approved by the FDA and making it available in physical therapy clinics, helping countless patients regain mobility.
