--- title: "Paralyzed Tennis Player Carries Olympic Torch Using Robotic Exoskeleton" description: "As the Olympics began to kick off, a paralyzed tennis player carried the Olympic flame through Paris while wearing a robotic exoskeleton." date: "2024-07-24" modified: "2024-07-24" authors: - name: "Noor Al-Sibai" job_title: "Senior Staff Writer" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/nooralsibai" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/paralyzed-tennis-olympic-torch-exoskeleton" categories: - "Robotics" - "Robots and Machines" tags: - "Olympics" - "paralysis" - "robotic exoskeleton" - "the digest" --- # Paralyzed Tennis Player Carries Olympic Torch Using Robotic Exoskeleton ![As the Olympics began to kick off, a paralyzed tennis player carried the Olympic flame through Paris while wearing a robotic exoskeleton.]() *\Image: @Brink\_Thinker via X / Futurism\* ## Suited Up As the Olympics began to kick off, a paralyzed tennis player carried the Olympic flame through Paris — using a robotic exoskeleton that helped him walk again. In a [now-viral post]() on X-formerly-Twitter, para-athlete Kevin Piette was seen walking with the Olympic Torch while wearing a black exoskeleton device that moved his legs as he walked through throngs of spectators and well-wishers at the start of this year's summer games. As the [Olympics' website explains](), Piette has been paraplegic — meaning his legs are paralyzed — for 11 years following an accident. In the wake of that accident, the 36-year-old continued to play tennis and [became a "pilot" for Wandercraft](), the company that makes the exoskeleton he was seen wearing, too. In [photos]() and [videos]() on the France-based company's [Instagram]() and [on its website](), Piette is often seen wearing its exoskeleton, which per Wandercraft's marketing "enables patients with severe gait impairment, including those with upper extremity dysfunction or cognition challenges to stand up and walk hands-free." As the [*Daily Mail* reports,]() Piette is the first real para-athlete to wear a self-balancing exoskeleton during the Olympic relay — though unfortunately, Wandercraft told the outlet that he didn't qualify for this year's Paralympics. https://www.twitter.com/Brink_Thinker/status/1815881655506096607 ## Next Level These self-balancing exoskeletons, as [*Euro News* reported in 2022,]() are battery-operated and offer personalized support to the legs and torsos of people who have lost the ability to walk due to health conditions ranging from strokes to paralysis. The devices also have sensors that can detect when wearers want to stand by reading upper body movement using bespoke algorithms, the report noted. As [*Freethink* reported]() in early 2023, Wandercraft's exoskeletons have only been cleared by the Food and Drug Administration in the United States [since the end of 2022](), and for stroke rehabilitation in particular. In France, however, roughly 20 of the robotic exoskeletons had been deployed to hospitals to help patients walk again, at around $176,000 a pop. But with the establishment of a campus in New York City to continue making the devices all the more autonomous, it may not be long before Wandercraft's robotic exoskeletons, or others like them, are seen in the streets of the United States, too. **More on the Olympics:** [*It Looks Like Grindr Has Blocked the Paris Olympic Village From Search*]() ## Author At Futurism, I've often been drawn to unpacking the narratives that underlie technological, scientific and medical progress, with a special interest in areas of conflict and ambiguity that end up setting agendas and steering the fates of both elites and the hoi polloi. I'm a committed generalist, but I often find myself returning to work involving NASA and the private space sector, the effects of AI on media and society, and the mechanics of the pharmaceutical industry, with a specific focus on the spread of GLP-1 drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy. Prior to Futurism, I worked for publications ranging from Media Matters and Truthdig to Raw Story and Bustle. I'm also the author of "Myspace Scene Queens," a 2024 title in Instar Books' acclaimed "Remember the Internet" series. My work at Futurism has been cited by outlets including the New Yorker, Slate, Nieman Lab, the Verge, the MIT Technology Review, the Sunday Times, and the Daily Beast. I grew up in North Carolina, attended the University of North Carolina at Asheville, and now live in Brooklyn, New York. In my free time, I'm an avid reader and music fan; you can probably find me at a local poetry reading, concert, underground rave, or DJ set. I'm the proud parent of an ineffable orange cat named Mee-Mow. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()