Alternative link where I’m told the story is written better, but unfortunately has a signup wall and I’m not willing to sign up https://www.404media.co/paralyzed-jockey-loses-ability-to-walk-after-manufacturer-refuses-to-fix-battery-for-his-100-000-exoskeleton/
This is an examine of why Right to Repair and standardized batteries are important.
I was just thinking the other day why we don’t have standardized EV batteries with a swap process for instant refueling. It would open up so many use cases, particularly for those who can’t have something like that charge overnight.
I would love more standardized batteries in everyday tech too. We need to standardized another shape or two for phones and other small tech. Finding good brands’ bike lights with AA or AAA batteries, for example, impossible anymore.
they exist for electric scooters in some regions, but car manufacturers really hate each other. it’s possible but unlikely. it takes them forever to even offer a charging port adapter.
I’m shocked to learn that they are licensing the tech to competitors instead of holding everything in the walled garden
Nio is one company that does just that in China, i’d assume swapping battery is expensive though so the use case is still limited.
i dont know that an exoskeleton is boring or dystopian.
it’s not about the exoskeleton, but that the fact that the guy was forced unable to use it and left paralyzed for two months because the manufacturer refused to give him a $20 replacement battery for the remote, making the $100k exoskeleton a brick. If it wasn’t for the media outrage, he would still be paralyzed in a bed waiting for someone to carry him around with a wheelchair
