Bridging Bionics showcases robotic exoskeleton to Basalt Elementary STEM students
Lucy Peterson/The Aspen Times
Bridging Bionics Founder Amanda Boxtel donned a bionic exoskeleton suit at Basalt Elementary School Monday to show STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) students real-world applications of robotics and engineering education.
Third and fourth grade students watched as Boxtel stood and walked in the exoskeleton suit, despite suffering a ski accident that left her paralyzed from the waist down nearly 30 years ago. Boxtel founded Basalt-based Bridging Bionics after test-piloting the exoskeleton suit; the nonprofit now offers a mobility program to residents in the Roaring Fork Valley that provides affordable access to the technology.
Basalt Elementary STEM teacher Mitchell Norris asked Boxtel to speak to his students to show how they can apply what they learn in classes to real world scenarios.
“We do engineering design, we do robotics, we do coding, we do various components and we put them all together,” Norris said. “Bringing (Bridging Bionics) here brings real world applications for STEM to show my students it’s not just about fake scenarios that I give them in class, it really does have a real world application.”
Boxtel, with the help of Maria Grufstedt and Hanna Mork, explained to students how her exoskeleton suit helped her and other Roaring Fork Valley residents regain mobility after suffering life-altering injuries. Grufstedt is the clinical coordinator at Bridging Bionics and Mork is the program coordinator.
The suit provides power and support to patients’ legs and helps correct movement patterns as patients navigate walking in the suit, according to EskoBionics, the company that provided Boxtel with her first exoskeleton suit.
It is a robot, Boxtel told students, that uses complex technology to mimic the body’s own skeleton.
Grufstedt and Mork, who are also physical therapists and trainers who work with patients in the mobility program, emphasized the importance of their education in STEM that allowed them to join Bridging Bionics.
“This is something that you guys can do,” Mork told students. “This is something we got to learn in school and you guys can do it too.”
Bridging Bionics has worked with people who have suffered strokes, spinal cord injuries, traumatic brain injuries and more. It has locations in Snowmass and west Glenwood Springs where people can work with physical therapists and trainers to use the exoskeleton suits.
“Life goes on after you sustain a chronic injury like mine,” Boxtel said. “You never give up.”
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