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Robotic Device Gives Hope To Those With Spinal Cord Injuries

By Paul Kurtz

MOUNT LAUREL, N.J. (CBS) -- The latest robotic technology is helping spinal cord injury victims get back on their feet.

45-year-old Dan Webb from Warminster, Pennsylvania was seriously injured in 2010 after his tree stand collapsed while he was hunting. The fall paralyzed him from the waist down. Today, he is beaming as he walks through the halls of Allied Orthotics and Prosthetics in Mount Laurel, New Jersey.

"A tremendous feeling," he said. "Every time I get up I enjoy it."

Webb is getting around with the help of a revolutionary bionic device that includes robotic leg braces and a backpack computer that's operated by wristwatch.

"All the modes that you to go into, meaning sit, stand, walk, can all be entered through the watch," said Laura Peltier, with the manufacturer REWALK Robotics.

Webb is among less than ten people in the country who own the exoskeleton, which was approved for use by the FDA a few months ago. He has two daughters, ages 10 and 14, and says he now has life back.

"I get to go places. I've got a father-daughter dance coming up in February that I haven't stood for in four years. So it'll be nice," he said. "The kids still don't want to dance with me. But I do a great robot move, you know!"

Webb did his training at Moss Rehab, which held clinical trials.

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