Stepping up

Bionic Yantra’s exoskeleton provides a fall-safe method of rehabilitation for those unable to walk

- Naini Thaker

Vaidy Narayanan had seen his 27-year-old cousin suffer from an auto-immune condition (Transverse Myelitis) that caused his spinal cord to collapse, leaving him paralysed. Inspired by a woman skier who was paralysed but walking because of a robotic exoskeleton at the opening ceremony of FIFA 2014, Narayanan thought he could make his cousin walk again.

In January 2017, Narayanan, 49, along with his colleague Shiva Nagarajan, 46, set up Bionic Yantra in Bengaluru, to manufacture robotic rehabilitation exoskeletons for those unable to walk because of injuries and ailments. Narayanan is an engineer who had earlier worked in the software industry, while Nagarajan, an IIM-Lucknow graduate, was in financial services.

“Vaidy had approached Dr Arun Jayaraman of the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago [now known as Shirley Ryan Ability Lab, SRAL], one of the leading rehabilitation hospitals. After speaking to him, we realised that exoskeletons can be very useful. Around 2011, the price of one wearable robotic exoskeleton in the US [they weren’t available in India], was about $200,000. We took it as a challenge to make it affordable,” says Nagarajan, founder and director, Bionic Yantra.

After six months of research across India, they realised there was enough demand for the exoskeleton, but doctors were sceptical about the quality and price, and wondered if such cutting-edge technology could be brought here. In 2017, Bionic Yantra signed a three-year collaboration agreement—covering safety validation of design, assistance in trials, protocols and training—with SRAL.