This week, the first Ukrainian bionic exoskeleton Pilgrim-I, developed by Oleksandr Kulyk and his team, was presented in the pavilion of UA HEALTHCARE: MEDICAL TECHNOLOGIES.

The principle of biological feedback in the concept of the exoskeleton, provides the best opportunity for immobile patients to overcome their physical limitations and gain maximum mobility.

Oleksandr Kulyk says: "The best ideas are born at the intersection of professions, sciences or visions. The integration of powerful achievements in different areas often results in a revolution in different areas. That is why we decided to apply advanced technologies of engineering, IT, 3D modeling, CAD in our medical practice  in order to create energy-efficient devices that will help compensate for irreversible motor deficits, restoring the patient's ability to move.
We have abandoned the idea of a device that carries immobile patients as "passengers", as in wheelchairs or modern orthotic systems, as a "prisoner" of iron and plastic, gradually and quietly "killing" the immobile patient.  Instead, we focused on creating devices that will make the patient feel a participant, a manager of their own movement, based on technologies to transform their own biopotentials into "commands" for their own feet. The idea is not new, but the solution and the method of implementation are quite new. This is how our bionic exoskeleton Pilgrim 1 was born. Its key benefits, which provide not only movement in space, but also the feeling that the patient is generating his own movement, are designed to finally remove the main barrier between man and machine. A barrier in the form of fear that a machine drives a person, especially when a person has a disability and needs mobility.

When a patient or his relatives address to a rehabilitation specialist, they always hope for the full restoration of impaired or lost functions,  regardless of the patient's condition.

The information space is full of news about the achievements of man in the III millennium, and then advertising and marketing tricks add. This avalanche of information inspires patients and others with a strong belief in the omnipotence of doctors, that medicine has certain technologies and opportunities to cure this disease or the consequences of injury! However, the hopes of such patients do not always come true, unfortunately, not everything that is broken can be restored, even after a specialized rehabilitation. In such cases, there is only one thing left - to find an effective way, how, what and how to compensate for the loss of function to return the patient to maximum efficiency and vitality. Nothing is as seriously tolerated as loss of movement, and nothing brings patients back to life as the ability to move again! Do not move, but walk!

We intend to change the mobility paradigm of the people with disability in Ukraine. Instead of building a far from perfect barrier-free environment (ramps, handrails, etc.), we want to equip people with special needs with devices and medical gadgets that will allow them to feel at ease everywhere. A new medical cybermarket should start working. We are at the beginning of a great era. "