<p>Published 04/13/2011 – 5:51 a.m. CST Rice University lab tests ‘assist-as-needed’ exoskeleton to aid recovery</p> <p>Randy Childers’ path to a laboratory at Rice University began on a motocross track in West Beaumont, Texas.</p> <p>The professional rider was injured in an accident while leading the last race of the day at Cowboy Badlands. Childers, then 24, suffered broken ribs, a compound fracture of the wrist and a crushed vertebra in his neck. A helicopter transported him to Houston, where surgeons inserted an artificial vertebra and fused…</p>