Paraplegic in 'Iron Man' body suit will deliver World Cup's first kick

The first kick at the World Cup is likely to be a memorable one.
At Thursday's opening ceremony, a paraplegic will put on a robotic Iron Man-like body suit in order to make the inaugural kick. The futuristic exoskeleton, which was created by a team of 156 scientists, is controlled by the paraplegic's brain waves.
Discovery News further explains how the suit operates: "Electronic circuits in the device's 'feet' will send a return signal to the user via an artificial skin worn on the arm, conveying the sensation of movement and contact."
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Brazilian doctor Miguel Nicolelis said this is the first time an exoskeleton has been controlled by brain activity. "Doing a demonstration in a stadium is something very much outside our routine in robotics," he said. "It's never been done before."
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Jordan Valinsky is the lead writer for Speed Reads. Before joining The Week, he wrote for New York Observer's tech blog, Betabeat, and tracked the intersection between popular culture and the internet for The Daily Dot. He graduated with a degree in online journalism from Ohio University.
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