Exo-Man.

This is pretty great:

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has issued clearance for the ReStore Exo-Suit, a device invented to help rehabilitate stroke victims.

The ReStore system is comprised of a soft, garment-like design which connects to a lightweight waist pack and mechanical cables that help lift the patient's affected leg in synchronized timing with their natural walking pattern. The system provides targeted assistance to the patient during forward propulsion (plantarflexion) and ground clearance (dorsiflexion), two key phases of the gait cycle. The device also provides the physical therapists with extensive data during gait training with ReStore to inform strategies to optimize a patient's treatment and progress using real-time analytics.

Now, in one way this is much better than the idea of the exo-suit as we comic book dorks know it; on the other hand it is worse. It is better because it is an actual rehabilitation device -- it helps retrain the patient to walk unassisted. If you've ever seen a family member struggle with the aftereffects of a stroke, or have done so yourself, you know how frustrating it is. Well, this suit can help.

On the other hand, this exo-suit doesn't give the wearer super strength, ray blasters, armor, or the ability to fly, so it's no Tony Stark special.

Then again, fictional exo-suits weren't always that awesome.

In the 1970s, when everything sucked because America had lost faith in itself and in capitalism, there were a couple of superhero-related bright spots on TV. One was Wonder Woman, although it should be admitted that most men would have tuned in to watch Lynda Carter do anything. Lynda Carter Knits a Sweater could have run three seasons. Another popular show was Bill Bixby's The Incredible Hulk, a superhero version of The Fugitive.

The success of these inspired the networks to try other superheroes on prime-time TV. And they were awful. Spider-Man in 1977; Dr. Strange in 1978. There were also a few original heroes, such as... Exo-Man!

In color!

Exo-Man starred soap star David Ackroyd as a scientist who builds a super-scientific suit of armor and fights crime. You may have seen clips on some of those compilations that pretend to show the Avengers in the seventies, using scenes from this, Hulk, and other sources, like the cheesy Captain America TV film from 1979. This pastiche was my favorite:

Exo-Man takes the place of Iron Man. One difference between the characters is that Exo-Man doesn't have a bum heart; he has useless legs, thanks to an attack by criminals. But with the suit he invents, he can walk again. And he is virtually invulnerable. And he is really strong. And he is BORING BORING BOOOOORING. Solid cast members including José Ferrer and Kevin McCarthy couldn't save this slow-paced TV movie.

I saw it when I was a kid, and I thought they hardly have done a better job of ruining the idea if they'd tried. If I recall correctly, we don't even see Exo-Man take action until the very end of the film, and he can barely move. Seriously, it's amazing that a paralyzed man can walk at all, but in the armor Exo-Man moves slower than your grandpa on sleeping pills through molasses with his shoelaces tied together dragging a Radio Flyer full of cinder blocks. The nondescript bad guys can't hurt him, but they could easily escape him. Toddlers and caterpillars could easily escape him.

So while the movie got good ratings, no one really wanted to see the series that the network had hoped would follow.

If there's a lesson from this, it's that real life is not as exciting as the movies, but sometimes movies are not as exciting as real life. Congratulations to ReWalk for the development of the ReStore. I hope it will be available to those who need it without costing Tony Stark-level money.