







































 

 

 

All articles are permanently available online to the public without restrictions or subscription fees. All 

articles are free to be used, cited, and distributed, on condition that appropriate acknowledgment is 

included. Authors are the copyright holders of their original contributions and grant the Canadian 

Online Publication Group (COPG) a license to publish the article and identify itself as the original 

publisher. CPOJ articles are licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International 

License.   

CPOJ Website: https://jps.library.utoronto.ca/index.php/cpoj/index 

Editorial Office: cpoj@online-publication.com    

ISSN: 2561-987X 

CPOJ is a member of, and subscribes to the principles of, the Committee on Publication Ethics 

(COPE).   

 

 

VOLUME 4, ISSUE 2  
 2021 

 

STAKEHOLDER  PERSPECTIVES 

Angus C. Exoseketons: a rehab tech consumer’s unexpected march to action. Canadian Prosthetics & Orthotics Journal. 2021; Volume 4, Issue 2, No.2. 

https://doi.org/10.33137/cpoj.v4i2.37250 

This article has been invited and reviewed by Co-Editor-In-Chief, Dr. Silvia Ursula Raschke. 
English proofread by: Karin Ryan, M.A., B.Sc., P.T. 
Managing Editor: Dr. Hossein Gholizadeh 
 

SPECIAL ISSUE 

https://online-publication.com/wp/
https://online-publication.com/wp/
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
https://jps.library.utoronto.ca/index.php/cpoj/index
mailto:cpoj@online-publication.com
https://publicationethics.org/about/our-organisation
https://publicationethics.org/about/our-organisation
https://publicationethics.org/members/canadian-prosthetics-orthotics-journal
https://doi.org/10.33137/cpoj.v4i2.37250
https://jps.library.utoronto.ca/index.php/cpoj/EDitorinchief
https://ca.linkedin.com/in/hosseingholizadeh


 

1 

Angus C. Exoseketons: a rehab tech consumer’s unexpected march to action. Canadian Prosthetics & Orthotics Journal. 2021; Volume 4, Issue 2, No.2. 
https://doi.org/10.33137/cpoj.v4i2.37250 

 

 

 
STAKEHOLDER  PERSPECTIVES 

 

EXOSEKETONS: A REHAB TECH CONSUMER’S UNEXPECTED MARCH TO ACTION  

Angus C.1,2* 
 

1 Chloe Angus Design, Vancouver, BC, Canada. 
2 Human in Motion Robotics, Vancouver, BC, Canada. 

 
 
 

 

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

INTRODUCTION 

Think about getting old. We all get older and, with aging, 

come arthritic knees, broken hips and other challenges.  

Mobility challenges eventually become everybody’s 

problem and the solutions that are out there to help us move 

are like stone aged ‘sticks” (canes) and stone wheels 

(wheelchairs).   

But, times have changed and we can create something 

infinitely better, something revolutionary by using 

technology to move us beyond our physical limitations.  

This is not the way of the future. It is here now. Cutting- 

edge materials, 3D Printing, Artificial  Intelligence (AI), and  

 

 

 

 

 

 

advanced engineering can be used to create smart 

prosthetics, stylish orthotics, and things as futuristic as 

wearable robotic suits. It is technology innovation and it is 

my story! 

My name is Chloë Angus 

I am a fashion designer and mobility activist. I am the end 

user of ‘stone age’ mobility devices. 

In 2015, I had achieved the life I had always dreamt of: 

strolling down runways and red carpets, meeting movie 

stars, media personalities, politicians, and princesses. 

Drinking bubbly for breakfast and wearing ball gowns to 

picnics. Married for 15 years and still madly in love, my 

husband Gabe and I had worked hard to carve out the life 

we wanted.  I had no idea the drastic turn life was about to 

take. 

On a typical June Sunday I went for a run and limped home 

with my right hip aching. A few hours later the toes on my 

right foot start tingling, going numb. I drove myself to 

 
OPEN  ACCESS Volume 4, Issue 2, Article No.2. 2021 

 

 

Journal Homepage: https://jps.library.utoronto.ca/index.php/cpoj/index 

 

ABSTRACT 

This paper is both a stakeholder perspectives as well as a ‘case study’ describing a journey from 

sudden disability to participant and investor in exoskeleton design. It tells of my experiences and 

opinions, as a successful fashion designer, when my life took a drastic turn on becoming paralysed 

from the waist down over the course of 24 hours, by a spinal tumour. Getting this diagnosis was 

‘the worst day in my life’, and it was quickly followed by the ‘second worst’ when, in my 

determination to walk again, I received Knee Ankle Foot Orthotics (KAFOs) and was shocked to 

learn that this appeared to be the best technology solution available on the market ‘suitable’ for 

use in the community. Initial anger at the system for not being better, at the rehab team for their 

complacency, and at myself for allowing a feeling of helplessness to take over led to questions 

such as: what does this say about our society? and what are we all willing to accept, for ourselves 

and others? This is professional opinion and an essay about how we see ourselves and how others 

see us. The journey from pre-injury ‘consumer’ to post-injury ‘disabled’ person and learning that 

being labeled ‘disabled’ leads to the additional handicap of the narrow vision of “cost” taken by the 

mobility industry where innovative ideas are stripped down to the bare minimum with the excuse 

that patients are “lucky” to have what they have been “given”. Grappling with these labels and 

inequities and seeking a better outcome, I became an integral team member of an exoskeleton 

development team, leading to the design of The Next Generation Exoskeleton! This is MY story, 

the story of Chloe Angus. It is the story of inclusive, user focused design and is a call to include 

and respect the end users of all assistive device technology design early in the design process 

and it is being told from the perspective of a person having experience and success in the world 

of business.  

CITATION 

Angus C. Exoseketons: a rehab tech 

consumer’s unexpected march to action. 

Canadian Prosthetics & Orthotics 

Journal. 2021; Volume 4, Issue 2, No.2. 

https://doi.org/10.33137/cpoj.v4i2.37250 

KEYWORDS 

Disability, Rehabilitation, Ankle Foot 

Orthotics, Designer, Fashion, Handicap, 

Exoskeleton 

 

* CORRESPONDING AUTHOR 

Chloe Angus  

Chloe Angus Design, Vancouver, BC, Canada. 

E-mail: chloe@chloeangus.com 
ORCID ID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5468-3121  

Special Issue: Health Economics in Prosthetics & Orthotics 

https://doi.org/10.33137/cpoj.v4i2.37250
https://jps.library.utoronto.ca/index.php/cpoj/index
https://doi.org/10.33137/cpoj.v4i2.37250
mailto:chloe@chloeangus.com
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5468-3121


 

2 

Angus C. Exoseketons: a rehab tech consumer’s unexpected march to action. Canadian Prosthetics & Orthotics Journal. 2021; Volume 4, Issue 2, No.2. 
https://doi.org/10.33137/cpoj.v4i2.37250 

ISSN: 2561-987X 
THE NEXT GENERATION EXOSKELETON  

Angus C., 2021 CPOJ 

Special  

 

S
P

E
C

IA
L

 I
S

S
U

E
 

Vancouver General Hospital thinking: Four hours to get 

through Emergency and I’ll be back, catching up at work.  

Unfortunately, that tingling crept up both legs and I watched 

helplessly as my legs stop working. 24 hours later one of 

the best doctors in Canada told me I was paralyzed from the 

waist down due to a rare benign tumor in my spinal cord and 

I heard him say I was probably born with it. I also heard the 

words “loss”, “function”, “acceptance”. Then that doctor, 

with his perfect hair and calm voice, looked me directly in 

the eyes and said “You will never walk again.” Struggling to 

keep my composure, I focused on the red Ferrari lanyard 

around his neck, thinking this isn’t possible. I was running 

yesterday. I drove myself to this hospital! And inexplicably I 

thought: How many injuries did it take to own that Ferrari? 

And, how often does he say the words ‘You Will Never Walk 

Again?’ I felt the blood drain from my face, my heart tighten, 

and I began to envision my life in a wheelchair. 

A Conversation 

In one day, I went from being a busy entrepreneur who “ran” 

a fashion design company to not being able to get out of a 

chair. Over the next few weeks reality set in. I became 

aware of the serious secondary health complications of 

living in a wheelchair. Muscles atrophy, bowel and bladder 

complications, circulation problems, pressure sores and 

bone density loss from not weight-bearing.  

Then there was the extreme pain, in my case, caused by 

sitting too long. When my doctors offered me a fentanyl 

patch program for the pain I knew the world needs a better 

solution than the wheelchair I had. It was simply 

unacceptable and all of us deserve better options. This is 

the passion that drives me as an innovator. 

The circumstances leading to my losing mobility are rare, 

but mobility loss is more common that most people imagine.  

MS, Parkinson’s, Stroke or Brain injury, along with 

something as simple as aging can result in the limitation or 

loss of mobility. So can a car accident on the way to work, 

or a fall on the ski hill.  Retirement Homes and Rehabilitation 

Centers are full of wheelchairs and walkers. At some point 

in life, mobility becomes everybody’s problem. 

Darkest Night and the Fight to Keep Moving 

That night after my doctor told me “You’ll NEVER walk 

again.” (my emphasis), lying alone in my hospital room, I 

replayed the doctor’s words and made two important 

decisions. 

First: I would refuse to give up hope! Being hopeful is not 

denying your reality. Being hopeful is believing that nothing 

is impossible. Armed with hope, the second decision was 

easy: I will not take this sitting down. I will fight for mobility. 

I will walk again! 

Desperate to get back into my studio, because the fashion 

cycle waits for no one, I got on Google and found an article 

in Popular Science Magazine, about a new technology 

called an exoskeleton that could help paralyzed people walk 

again. It was a wearable robotic suit, like in the movie 

Ironman. The next morning, I said to my husband “Honey! 

Just order me one of this off eBay and I will be back at work 

next week!” Unfortunately, I learned, you can’t buy one on 

eBay. Several months later at the rehabilitation centre, and 

after much advocating for myself, I finally was allowed to try 

an exoskeleton. 

I thought: HA! That doctor had said “YOU will NEVER walk 

again”. He was WRONG! He may have meant that I will 

never walk like I once did, but there are many ways to walk. 

What a feeling. The first time I put on the exoskeleton and 

walked again, after so many doctors told me I would not, 

was vindicating and opened my eyes to what was possible 

with technology. Euphoric, I was ready to walk right out of 

the rehabilitation center. 

However, I quickly learned that exoskeletons, and the 

orthotics that go with them, were extremely limited. The 

device I used only allowed me to move forward in a 

rudimentary robotic way, not allowing for natural walking 

gait or balance. It also it required arm crutches and an 

attendant to use it. It could not be used independently or go 

downstairs or up curbs. The ‘orthotics’, where hard straps 

that pinched. Visually I looked as awkward and as 

uncomfortable as I felt. This was clearly not a robotic suit as 

shown in the movies.  

Still, the technology was amazing. It just needed to be 

improved. This was in 2015 and, at that time, I had no idea 

I would become an advocate for exoskeletons, collaborator 

with a tech company, or a designer of orthotics. 

Going Back in Time  

My journey did not end with my rehabilitation or first use of 

an exoskeleton. Weeks into my rehabilitation, I was given 

the diagnosis of “complete” spinal cord injury with the 

prognosis of “no chance of recovery”. After being able to use 

the exoskeleton at the rehab centre, as a result of my 

persistent requests and self-advocacy, I was told my time 

was up and the cost of my continuing to use the exoskeleton 

was not “worth” it. I was once again reminded that I would 

not recover and that I would have to learn to live my life in a 

wheelchair. 

When I persisted and told my physio team I wanted to walk 

again they suggested I get leg braces called KAFO’s. I was 

made a pair, at the cost of $11,000, and the day I received 

them was the lowest day in my life after the day I was told I 

would never walk again. They looked like something out of 

a history book or the Forest Gump movie (Figure 1). 

  

 

https://doi.org/10.33137/cpoj.v4i2.37250


 

3 

Angus C. Exoseketons: a rehab tech consumer’s unexpected march to action. Canadian Prosthetics & Orthotics Journal. 2021; Volume 4, Issue 2, No.2. 
https://doi.org/10.33137/cpoj.v4i2.37250 

ISSN: 2561-987X 
THE NEXT GENERATION EXOSKELETON  

Angus C., 2021 CPOJ 

Special  

 

S
P

E
C

IA
L

 I
S

S
U

E
 

 

Figure 1: The second lowest day of my life. 

The day after I walked in a wearable robotic suit from the 

future, the rehab centre’s exoskeleton, I found myself in the 

basement of a hospital being fit for leg braces made of metal 

rods and leather straps that looked like they came out of a 

history book. The contradiction made me second guess my 

own sanity. Was I in 1950? How did I get here and how do 

I get back to the future?  

Re-commitment to Hope: Refusing to Accept What I am 

“Given” and Believing Ironman is Possible 

Rolling out of the orthotics dungeon, with tears in my eyes, 

I got mad. Mad at the system for not being better, mad at 

my rehab team for their complacency, and mad at myself for 

the feeling of helplessness that I had allowed to take over. 

Thoughts about acceptance kept coming back to me: What 

are we all willing to accept, for ourselves and others?  

Mobility becomes an issue for all of us at some point in all 

our lives.  Mobility deserves advanced solutions, whether it 

is a simple insole that allows you to keep running well into 

your 90’s or a full body exoskeleton being worn by 10-year-

old tetraplegic to school. Society must believe in something 

better; believe that “Ironman” is possible. But how does one 

shift an entire industry that seems to have become too 

complacent? 

Shifting Perspectives to the Consumer 

Typically, products and solutions for disabled people are 

designed and developed by able bodied people. Worse, I 

learned, they are often designed to meet the needs of able-

bodied people: Hospitals, Rehab Centres, and Insurance 

Providers, those who pay the bills, are their target market. It 

is these bodies that typically dictate what products are made 

available in the mobility industry and not the people who 

need and use the products themselves. Even worse, the 

actual customer, who needs the device and finds 

themselves in a desperate situation is made to feel they 

should be grateful for what they are given, even when it is 

often not what they need or want. 

The general population, including my ‘designer self pre-

injury’, do not know anyone in a wheelchair. That changed 

when I became a wheelchair user and, after just one day, it 

was clear my needs where not being met. Almost overnight, 

I became an expert in a new field: the field of mobility. We 

can’t address what we don’t know, this is why it is so 

important for developers in all fields engage with those lived 

experts.1 

My injury attached the label of ‘disabled’ on me.  Before that 

I was a ‘consumer’. As a consumer there were millions of 

choices offered to me. From colour to cost, brands catered 

to my every whim. When I shop for what I “need” now, as a 

‘disabled person’ what I want is no longer offered to me as 

a choice. I am no longer seen as a ‘consumer’ but only as a 

“end-user with a disability”. 

This narrow vision of “cost” taken by the mobility industry is 

dictated by Hospitals, Rehab Centres, and Insurance 

providers. Innovative ideas are stripped down to the bare 

minimum with the excuse that patients are “lucky” to have 

what they have been “given”. This narrow view of ‘cost’ also 

does not appear to consider the long-term cost of the 

secondary health complications a lack of mobility inflicts on 

individuals and the system.  And it restricts those trying to 

come up with new solutions.  If we think of cost before all 

else, we would not have cars, let alone people walking on 

the moon.  

As a CEO, I am well aware that costs are important factor 

when running a successful business, but ultimately the 

mobility industry needs a consumer-focused perspective 

shift: from patient to client if it is to grow, have market 

support, and ultimately happy consumers. It is always 

people and community, not governments, that make real 

change. Fortunately, I found an academic team that had a 

similar hopeful vision for the future as I did (Figure 2). 

 The Road to Hope 

The experience of walking again, with the help of an 

exoskeleton was my first step to a new, technology assisted, 

future. No longer having access to the Rehab Centre 

exoskeleton and having found I could not order one on 

Amazon, I started searching for access to this technology.   

 

https://doi.org/10.33137/cpoj.v4i2.37250


 

4 

Angus C. Exoseketons: a rehab tech consumer’s unexpected march to action. Canadian Prosthetics & Orthotics Journal. 2021; Volume 4, Issue 2, No.2. 
https://doi.org/10.33137/cpoj.v4i2.37250 

ISSN: 2561-987X 
THE NEXT GENERATION EXOSKELETON  

Angus C., 2021 CPOJ 

Special  

 

S
P

E
C

IA
L

 I
S

S
U

E
 

This led me to two engineering professors at Simon Fraser 

University in Surrey, BC, Canada, Dr. Siamak Arzanpour 

and Dr. Ed Park.  In collaboration with them, we started 

Human In Motion Robotics (HMR) and are working with a 

growing team of engineers, researchers, students, industry 

leaders, and investors to build the world’s most advanced 

exoskeleton for rehabilitation and personal use.   

The technology being developed is a radical improvement 

to the current technology, capable of advanced articulation 

and superior range of motion, allowing for natural walking, 

self-balancing capabilities, and independent use.2 It will 

allow me, and 80 million others that live with motion 

disabilities, to walk back into our lives with dignity and 

independence. The development team is working all 

aspects – from the technical, to orthotic fit, to focusing on 

practical client needs and aspirations in addition to 

accessibly–with the goal being that the next generation of 

the HMR exoskeleton will be available for purchase online 

and will meet the needs and wants of customers. As a 

designer of fashion, and now wearable and exoskeleton 

prototype in the lab, I envision a sleek, stylish, robotic suit - 

in custom colours, making it “cool” to wear. People wearing 

our robotic suit will feel confident in the boardroom, at a 

cocktail party, or in their seniors’ living home. 

Company leadership like that at HMR are to be commended 

by actively including those with lived experience. This 

approach is instrumental in making the necessary shift in 

the industry and creating successful markets for developed 

products. 

Hope Regained: My Brightest Day  

What I have described above are lofty design aspirations. 

My darkest day had been the night in hospital where I kept 

thinking about the words “You will never walk again”. Many 

months later, and after much learning, I had one of my best, 

hopeful days–June 21st 2019. The day started with a high-

profile client putting on a beautiful ball gown I designed with 

perfect fit and proportion, a vision of red silk and showcasing 

the skills I had developed in my years as a fashion designer. 

Later that same day, I tried on a new “outfit” of my own, that 

I had also helped design, The Next Generation Exoskeleton 

(Figure 3). I walked independently, no attendant, no arm 

crutches. That was a bright day. I felt successful back in my 

career and – without any help or aids– I WALKED AGAIN! 

CONCLUSION 

Walking Forward Together 

My journey from ballgowns to wearable robotic suits has 

come full circle. Emotionally I feel hopeful, inspired and truly 

alive. Today, I am working on growing awareness around 

the issues of mobility disability and am working with, and 

investing in, a team of advocates and innovators– people 

who will take a stand for advancing technology until all 

mobility challenged people can ‘Stand for Themselves’! 

Take a minute to envision the future of your own mobility. 

Imagine if you become mobility impaired instead of being 

limited to a wheelchair, you now have options. Options that 

will allow you to walk anywhere. You can stand to deliver a 

Figure 2: The Simon Fraser University/Human in Motion Team. Persons in image have given informed consent to publication. 

https://doi.org/10.33137/cpoj.v4i2.37250


 

5 

Angus C. Exoseketons: a rehab tech consumer’s unexpected march to action. Canadian Prosthetics & Orthotics Journal. 2021; Volume 4, Issue 2, No.2. 
https://doi.org/10.33137/cpoj.v4i2.37250 

ISSN: 2561-987X 
THE NEXT GENERATION EXOSKELETON  

Angus C., 2021 CPOJ 

Special  

 

S
P

E
C

IA
L

 I
S

S
U

E
 

speech. With your exoskeleton, you will feel equal again, 

standing eye to eye when you shake hands. You can hug 

your loved ones to your chest, maybe even walk down the 

aisle. Options that provide both physical mobility and 

access to the world around you. 

Canes, walkers, and wheelchairs are not enough. We 

walked on the moon 50 years ago! We have the technology; 

all we must do is apply it. Insurance and Healthcare 

providers must get on board and those who can, should 

invest in advanced mobility technology for all. 

Talk to your friends, family, and government about the need 

for advanced mobility. We can all be advocates. In our 

lifetime, people of all ages and abilities will walk again!  

 

Figure 3: Myself, wearing the first-generation prototype of the 

Human in Motion Exoskeleton, standing on one leg independently. 

The harness is there just for safety, it is not supporting me. 

 

CALL TO ACTION  

• Don’t make assumptions about individuals with 

disability. The responsibility for this relies not only on the 

general public and health care providers but also on tech 

developers and funders of health tech. Get your hands 

dirty, get to know people with disabilities and what their 

aspirations are. 

• For the funders of health tech, calculate the quality and 

dignity of the experience of life into your value 

calculations – just like you are now taking Social Justice, 

Gender and Environmental (SGE) criteria into account. 

• Don’t make assumptions about what is possible. Look at 

what has been done like sending someone to the moon 

and aim big. Invest in a technologically improved future. 

The responsibility for this relies both on health and 

rehabilitation professionals and biomedical engineers. 

 

• Advocate for the right to return to an active, integrated 

lifestyle and the funding investment required to both 

develop that necessary technology and the ability to get 

it to market and accessible to those who require it. The 

responsibility for this lies with researchers, funders, 

insurers and all disability advocates.  

 

• And understand that accessibility not only means that a 

person regains mobility and independence but that the 

technology required is easily accessible, from funding to 

on-line business models. Business models in all other 

sectors are changing, rehab technology business 

models have to change with them.  

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 

None 

DECLARATION OF CONFLICTING 

INTERESTS 

Chloe Angus is a shareholder in Human in Motion Research and is 

a member of the team developing a novel exoskeleton design. 

SOURCES OF SUPPORT 

The Human in Motion exoskeleton is being carried out with support 

from the NSERC Engage Program, the Praxis Spinal Cord Institute 

Accelerate Program, and the Canadian SR&ED Program. 

REFERENCES 

1.Jankowski N, Schönijahn L, Salchow C, Ivanova E, Wahl M. User-

centred design as an important component of technological 

development. Curr Dir Biomed Eng. 2017;3(1): 69-73. 

DOI:10.1515/cdbme-2017-0015 

2.Sadeqi S, Bourgeois S, Park E, Arzanpour S.  Design and 

performance analysis of a 3- R RR spherical parallel manipulator 

for hip exoskeleton applications. RATE. 2017; 5(4). 

DOI:10.1177/2055668317697596 

 

AUTHOR SCIENTIFIC BIOGRAPHY 

Chloe Angus has been a team member on an exoskeleton 

research team since 2017. She is an active participant in team 

activities, taking on the roles of end-user, design of the orthotic 

interface components and investor. In speaking both with team 

members and with investors, she is a strong advocate for including 

end users in tech development research in a way that listens and 

responds instead of limiting their voices and experience.    

https://doi.org/10.33137/cpoj.v4i2.37250
https://doi.org/10.1515/cdbme-2017-0015
https://doi.org/10.1177/2055668317697596

