Fans will expect the 2014 World Cup to be exciting. They'll expect to see incredible athleticism and last-minute victories. They may even expect a few miracles. Video published on Nov 5, 2013
But at the very first game at this year's competition in Brazil, they may get to witness a very different type of miracle.
Because a plan is in action to have a teenager, paralyzed from the waist down, kick off the 2014 World Cup -- literally. According to the New Scientist, the teen will use a mind-controlled exoskeleton -- technology developed by a nonprofit international collaboration called the Walk Again Project.
“We want to galvanize people’s imaginations,” Miguel Nicolelis, a neuroscientist at Duke University who is leading the Walk Again Project, told the Washington Post. “With enough political will and investment, we could make wheelchairs obsolete.”
One Brazilian teen will be chosen from 10 candidates, according to the Post, and will undergo months of training on a virtual reality simulator leading up to the World Cup, which starts on June 12.
Last June, 13-year-old Nick LeGrande, a Kansas City native battling a rare blood disease, threw the first pitch at an Oakland Athletics game -- from halfway across the country, thanks to Google Fiber technology.
H/T Bleacher Report
Image: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/01/04/
world-cup-kickoff-paralyzed-teen_n_4539099.html?ncid=edlinkusaolp00000009
Fans will expect the 2014 World Cup to be exciting. They'll expect to see incredible athleticism and last-minute victories. They may even expect a few miracles. Video published on Nov 5, 2013
But at the very first game at this year's competition in Brazil, they may get to witness a very different type of miracle.
Because a plan is in action to have a teenager, paralyzed from the waist down, kick off the 2014 World Cup -- literally. According to the New Scientist, the teen will use a mind-controlled exoskeleton -- technology developed by a nonprofit international collaboration called the Walk Again Project.
“We want to galvanize people’s imaginations,” Miguel Nicolelis, a neuroscientist at Duke University who is leading the Walk Again Project, told the Washington Post. “With enough political will and investment, we could make wheelchairs obsolete.”
One Brazilian teen will be chosen from 10 candidates, according to the Post, and will undergo months of training on a virtual reality simulator leading up to the World Cup, which starts on June 12.
Last June, 13-year-old Nick LeGrande, a Kansas City native battling a rare blood disease, threw the first pitch at an Oakland Athletics game -- from halfway across the country, thanks to Google Fiber technology.
H/T Bleacher Report
Image: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/01/04/
world-cup-kickoff-paralyzed-teen_n_4539099.html?ncid=edlinkusaolp00000009
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WtODibC_82A