I hope this technology pans out. My brother is quadriplegic, but still has sensation in his hands. This would be perfect for him. It'll probably be a decade or more before it's commercialized, but hopefully within his lifetime he'll walk again.
I remember an article in the 1980s about a wearable computer on a man's belt with batteries, and he had some wires to his brain to help him see shapes, but I can no longer find the reference or pics. It's amazing to see the progress if you compare the pics of the large device back then to the things they are doing now. That and the discoveries and inventions in computing, chip manufacture, cognitive science and biology that are coming together in so many ways. When I watched the film 'Transcendence' this past year, along with having been a fan of Kronenberg and his movie 'eXistenZ', I really started to think about the overlap and hybridization of technologies: implants, wearable tech, AI, CI, CRISPR, biopunk, VR, AR, etc... I can see a dystopic 'Bladerunner' style future of cyborgs, modified humans and crazy disease and organisms. On the other hand, I can see humanity coasting his way into accepting the weirdness, and the crazy future it will bring.<p>In the meantime, I hope many who cannot, will get to partake in walking, seeing and living longer due to these discoveries and inventions.
This reminds me of the book Interface by Neil Stephenson.<p><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interface_(novel)" rel="nofollow">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interface_(novel)</a>