Jhett McCosker strapped into the gizmo with its light backpack and leg harnesses, and Karis Ederer pushed some buttons on the back of the pack, whispered a few instructions, and suddenly McCosker's legs stiffly moved forward one at a time in a slow, deliberate gait. There's a learning curve when you're wearing an outfit that looks like some sort of quasi "Iron Man" suit.

Fifty years ago, HCA Florida West Hospital Rehabilitation Center staff probably couldn't imagine using a robot to assist people who have suffered spinal cord or brain injuries, stroke survivors and people who use wheelchairs to not only stand, but actually walk.

The center began in 1974, one year before the former West Florida Hospital, now HCA Florida West Hospital, opened on North Davis Highway. The hospital acquired the Rehabilitation Center in 1975 after opening.

On Wednesdays, staff members, doctors, patients, former patients and well-wishers visited the Florida West Hospital Rehabilitation Center for an open house of the gym area, including demonstrations of the state-of-the-art robotic exoskeleton.

McCosker is a new rehabilitation technician at Florida West Hospital Rehabilitation Center with full movement, but was testing the device for visitors with the assistance of Ederer, a doctor of physical therapy at the center, who helped program in movements, direction, pace and other factors.

"None of that was me,'' McCosker said of her robotic march back and forth at the center. "It was all (the robot)."

Ederer said the exoskeleton robot is already used with inpatient and outpatient treatment.

"It can assist people with strokes, spinal cord injuries, prolonged brain injuries or even those who have had prolonged hospitalizations that have led to a lot of general debility," she said. "Sometimes they might just need an extra boost to be able to come to a standing position."

Tara Blackwell watched from her wheelchair and said someday she would like to try the robotic exoskeleton.

Blackwell, a multi-sport athlete who was on a softball scholarship at Troy University, suffered a cervical spinal cord injury in 2005, in the middle of her sophomore season as the Trojan's second baseman. In 2006, she spent time rehabilitating at the Florida West Hospital Rehabilitation Center.

"I wouldn't recommend any place else," said Blackwell, founder of The Seven Project., a nonprofit group that promotes adaptive fitness and wellness for people with disabilities. "Especially for anyone with neuro-conditions. They specialize in this. Their only goal is to help you and they're incredible. They're great people and friendly and they still remember my name."

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Florida West Hospital Rehabilitation Center normally serves about 900 to 1,000 people annually and has 58 beds for inpatient care.

"It's such a privilege to serve the people who have suffered great loss in their functional ability and to be able to see them regain those functions back," said Jill Olinick, director of therapy services. "We see them even after the discharge from the inpatient side and help with all sorts of programs, including a driving program we have" which teaches people how to operate motor vehicles after rehabilitation.

Dr. Christopher Burton, medical director of HCA Florida West Rehabilitation Center, credited the staff at the center for its success.

"Truly, we have one of the best teams here of any rehabilitation facility I've ever been a part of and I've worked across the nation,'' Burton said, adding that the center is "the only brain injury certified, spinal cord injury certified and stroke rehabilitation facility in our community."

"We're doing research, we're doing academics and we're keeping on the cutting edge," Burton said. "There's growing pains with that, but it's much better than anything else to be part of. These young doctors here, they're going to be taking care of you and me down the road and I want to be sure that they're trained very well."