ATLANTA - Twelve years after a devastating motorcycle crash left him paralyzed from the chest down, Gwinnett County native Ignacio Montoya is turning his recovery into pioneering research at Georgia Tech.

What they're saying:

Montoya, a former Air Force pilot trainee, is developing what he calls the world’s first self-balancing exoskeleton powered by artificial intelligence. The goal is to help people with spinal cord injuries regain mobility and, eventually, reverse paralysis entirely.

"Someone ran a red light," Montoya said of the 2013 crash that changed his life. He spent three months in a coma and was left with no sensation below his chest or in his right arm.

"What devastated me the most," he said, "My pilot slot had to be given to someone else. That I could no longer be a pilot

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