Powered Exoskeleton Device Tested at Shepherd Center is Finalist for Atlanta Magazine’s 2013 Groundbreaker Awards

ATLANTA – Shepherd Center, Vanderbilt University, Parker Hannifin Corporation and the Indego® powered exoskeleton have been selected as one of 10 finalists in Atlanta Magazine’s 2013 Groundbreaker Awards. The finalists will be honored and a winner of the Groundbreaker of the Year award will be announced at a ceremony on Nov. 13.

Each year, the Groundbreaker Awards celebrate visionary leaders and projects by recognizing individuals helping people to live longer and healthier lives, and organizations implementing bold new ideas for improving health and cleaning up the environment. You can vote for Groundbreaker of the Year at: www.atlantamagazine.com/groundbreakers2013/vote.aspx

Indego is a robotic device that enables people with spinal cord injury and other mobility-limiting conditions to stand and walk. The device, which was developed at Vanderbilt University and is being tested at Shepherd Center, could be available to other clinical rehabilitation centers in the United States as early as 2015. Parker Hannifin is seeing the development through to commercialization through an innovative partnership among Shepherd Center, Vanderbilt and Parker.

Indego, which is featured in the November issue of Atlanta Magazine (www.atlantamagazine.com/groundbreakers2013), is worn on the outside of the body and uses sensors to recognize motion and tilt. This information about the wearer's posture is used to control standing, walking and sitting in a natural and intuitive way. To walk, the wearer simply leans forward. To stop or sit, they stand upright or lean back.

“The Indego device is extremely intuitive and moves in harmony with the body,” said Clare Hartigan, a physical therapist and research coordinator at Shepherd Center. “It is also the only device that allows the user to transport it completely by themselves. They can wear it in their wheelchair, in a restaurant or car. People have been in the device comfortably for as long as six hours – sitting, standing and walking.”

For more information on Indego, visit www.indego.com. 

About Parker Hannifin

With annual sales of $13 billion in fiscal year 2013, Parker Hannifin is the world's leading diversified manufacturer of motion and control technologies and systems, providing precision-engineered solutions for a wide variety of mobile, industrial and aerospace markets. The company employs approximately 58,000 people in 49 countries around the world. Parker has increased its annual dividends paid to shareholders for 57 consecutive fiscal years, among the top five longest-running dividend-increase records in the S&P 500 index. For more information, visit the company's website at www.parker.com or its investor information website at www.phstock.com.