SuitX: From Sitting in a Wheelchair to Walking in an Exoskeleton
Company founded: 2011
Founders: UC Berkeley Professor Homayoon Kazerooni, Michael McKinley (UC Berkeley Master's degree, 2012, Mechanical Engineering, Ph.D., 2014, Mechanical Engineering), Wayne Tung (UC Berkeley Bachelor's degree, 2008, Mechanical Engineering and Material Science Engineering, Master's degree, 2009, Mechanical Engineering, Ph.D., 2013, Mechanical Engineering), Minerva Pillai (UC Berkeley Bachelor's degree, 2007, Mechanical Engineering, Master's degree, 2010, Mechanical Engineering, Ph.D., 2014, Mechanical Engineering)
Robotic-assisted exoskeletons for humans have been commonly depicted as technology for battle and wars. However, that’s not what has inspired Homayoon Kazerooni, UC Berkeley professor of mechanical engineering, as well as his students and startup colleagues to pioneer the development and commercialization of wearable exoskeletons. They’ve been driven by the vision of exoskeletons helping millions of people with mobility limitations due to, for example, cerebral palsy, multiple sclerosis, strokes, and spinal injuries.
Kazerooni’s research on exoskeletons began in the early 1990s. Around 2000, his work gained momentum with a US government-funded project aimed at developing a device to assist individuals in carrying heavy loads over extended periods. At that time Kazerooni realized the potential use of exoskeletons in the medical field, particularly as an alternative to wheelchairs.
To pursue that potential, Kazerooni, along with one of his students, Nathan Harding, cofounded Ekso Bionics (originally known as Berkeley ExoWorks) in 2005. The startup licensed the core technology from UC Berkeley, and to help fund its development of exoskeletons for health care, Ekso sublicensed its technology to Lockheed Martin Corporation to develop exoskeletons that enable military personnel to carry heavy equipment over long distances. The startup subsequently raised a Series A round of funding in 2010, and it became a publicly traded company in 2014. As of 2025, Ekso is a leader in advanced robotics designed to enhance, amplify, and restore human function.
While Ekso was pursuing its exoskeleton product strategy, Kazerooni envisioned a broader purpose for the technology beyond Ekso’s plans. He aimed to drive down the costs of exoskeletons, making them an affordable and accessible alternative to wheelchairs. That commitment to accessibility also inspired Kazerooni to develop exoskeletons tailored for workers, helping to reduce the risk of workplace musculoskeletal injuries. To pursue his broader vision, Kazerooni founded SuitX (originally known as U.S. Bionics) in 2011. Four of his PhD students became early key members of the SuitX team: Michael McKinley, Wayne Tung, Minerva Pillai, and Logan Van Engelhoven.
Later that year an exoskeleton co-developed by SuitX and Kazerooni’s lab enabled UC Berkeley senior Austin Whitney, a paraplegic, to stand and walk across the commencement stage at graduation; the crowd of fifteen thousand in Edwards Stadium stood up with him—and roared. Whitney, who was paralyzed in a 2007 car accident, said: “Ask anybody in a wheelchair; ask what it would mean to once again stand and shake someone’s hand while facing them at eye level. It will be surreal, like a dream.”
That heartwarming demonstration of the technology was followed by two global awards. In 2014 the exoskeleton technology developed in Kazerooni’s UC Berkeley lab was honored by the AUTM Better World Project, recognizing university research that improves the world. Then in 2016, SuitX received a $1 million prize as the winner of the Robotics for Good competition based on the company’s pediatric medical exoskeleton. The prize-winning exoskeleton had been optimized to help children affected by neurological conditions like cerebral palsy and spina bifida for which walking is difficult or impossible. The goal was to develop exoskeletons that promote childrens’ walking skills during the narrow timeframe when they easily acquire locomotion skills. “By aiming at neurologically disabled children,” Kazerooni said, “we can make the difference between children spending their lives in a wheelchair or actually standing and walking.”
Between 2013 and 2019, SuitX received three grants for the US government, totaling about $1.2 million. In 2021, SuitX was acquired by Ottobock, a global leader in prosthetics, orthotics, and exoskeletons. The acquisition aimed to combine expertise and product lines to advance the exoskeleton market and promote worldwide adoption of exoskeleton technologies. By the time of the acquisition, SuitX had licensed nearly a hundred issued and pending patents from UC Berkeley—among the most patent rights for any UC Berkeley licensee.
As a legend in the exoskeleton field, and in recognition for his pioneering development of exoskeleton technology, in 2024, Kazerooni was named a Fellow of the National Academy of Inventors—the highest professional distinction awarded to inventors.
1 In 2016, the US Department of Labor ranked back and knee injuries as the most common injuries among workers, leading to about $16 billion annually in workers compensation.
2 Sarah Yang, “Paraplegic Student Stands Tall and Walks at Commencement,” UC Berkeley News, May 14, 2002, https://news.berkeley.edu/2011/05/14/paraplegic-student-stands-walks-at-graduation/.
3 Sarah Yang, “Engineers to Help Paraplegic Student to Walk at Graduation,” UC Berkeley News, May 12, 2011, https://news.berkeley.edu/2011/05/12/paraplegic-student-exoskeleton-graduation-walk/.
Published in Startup Campus: How UC Berkeley Became an Unexpected Leader in Entrepreneurship and Startups, August 2025
