open2012 technology-innovations-disabilities-goldberg

Department of Veterans AffairsTechnology Innovations for Persons with Disabilities (TIPeD)

Department of Veterans Affairs

Mary Goldberg, MEd

Jon Pearlman, PhD

Education & Outreach Coordinator

Assistant Professor, RST, SHRS

Department of Rehabilitation Science and TechnologySchool of Health and Rehabilitation SciencesHuman Engineering Research Laboratories

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Talk outline

• Program overview & plan• 1st cohort results• Program replication• Feedback and questions

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Departmental structure

• Rehabilitation Science & Technology

• Human Engineering Research Laboratories

• Veterans Affairs• QoLT• Intern programs

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TIPeD Program• Product development program funded

by NCIIA• Augment ASPIRE & QoLT REU

programs

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Background

• Assistive technology & participation in society

• Inappropriate designs• Design shortcomings• Improve independence and safety

of users

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Background

• AT market• 3rd party payers• Performance & safety

requirements• Academic institutions• Valley of death

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Technology transfer

• SBIR and STTR programs• Technology transfer offices within

universities• Interdisciplinary programs

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HERL technology development• Commercialized 5 products• 3 patents awarded; 9 pending• Research & user-driven

innovations • Business partners• Multidisciplinary faculty, students,

& staff

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HERL technology development• Design & fabrication facilities• Funding streams• SBIR/STTR involvement

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Design Series

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NCIIA funding

• Requested support for multidisciplinary teams

• Workshops on innovation & entrepreneurship

• Tours of local companies• Collaborative program facilitation

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Evidence-based program model• Experiential learning• Solving problems of social

relevance

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Program structure

• Interdisciplinary leadership team• Solicited ideas from faculty• Project mission• Commercial potential• Feasible 10-week objectives• Result in SBIR proposal

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Participants

• Funding challenge• 1 engineering & 1 business student• Law student to investigate

intellectual property

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Students’ tasks

• Technology design, development, and evaluation

• SBIR proposal instead of technical paper

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Learning objectives

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Activities

• Enhanced cohort– ELeVATE

– REU

– Bridge

• Talks

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Weekly meetings

• Elevator pitch• Tasks completed• Next steps• Archives & team websites

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SBIR Proposal• Technology

– Research and development efforts

– Technical merit

– Feasibility

• Commercialization– Market description

– IP protection

– Finance plan

– Marketing plan

– Revenue stream

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Other deliverables

• Poster• Oral presentation• Participation in comprehensive

symposium

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Evaluation and sustainability plan• 50% success rate on securing seed

funding within 12 months of starting summer project

• 25% success rate on establishing an operating company, measured by actual sales within two years of starting summer project

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Evaluation and sustainability plan• At least one nationally-advertised

design award, per year (RESNA, Lemmelson)

• Obtain additional funding for TIPeD from federal agency or foundation within the first 12 months of program

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1st cohort-summer 2011

• 6 primary students• Bus Buddy• Low-cost footwear• Smart controller

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Bus Buddy

• Novel self-administered containment system

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Bus Buddy

• Reduced:– System Weight by ~30%

– Upright Weight by ~60%

– Upright Width by ~40%

– Lateral Arm Weight by ~10%

– Cost ~70%

• Increased:– Upright Strength

– Efficiency of the Lifting Mechanism

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FINANCES• Price: $1,000/unit• Sales in Units:

Year 1: 30 units Year 2: 150 units Year 3: 1,000 units Year 4: 2,000 units Year 5: 3,000 units• Cost: $750 Years

1 and 2; $650 each year after

• Financing: $500k• Break Even: Year 3

STRATEGY #1• Contract with

Manufacturers for Device Components

• In-House Marketing

1 2 3 4 5

($1,000,000)

($500,000)

$0

$500,000

$1,000,000

$1,500,000

$2,000,000

$2,500,000

$3,000,000

$3,500,000 Revenue

Gross Margin

Operating Income

Year

U.S

. Dol

lars

Forecasted Revenue, Gross Margin, and Operating Income

Production Strategy

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Low-Cost Basic Custom Fit Footwear

• Diabetic footwear• Ordering and distribution system• Sandals with assembly instructions• Business plan for establishing

footwear microenterprises to sell both custom and regular sandals

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Low-Cost Basic Custom Fit Footwear

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Production & Marketing

Leather

Step 1. MaterialsStep 2. Draw and Cut Step 3. Packing with Instruction

Step 4. EntrepreneurStep 5. Selling

Rubber

• Final production will be done by entrepreneurs• 90 to 160 entrepreneurs can sell the shoes from 2012 to 2016

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Finance plan

　 Y1 Y2 Y3 Y4 Y5

Target Market

AshantiUpper East

Western

AshantiUpper East

Western

GhanaAmericas(33%)

GhanaAmericas(66%)

Cote D'ivoreTogo

GhanaAmericas(100%)

Cote D'ivoreTogo

Sales 29,102 53,023 1,479,333 2,851,528 4,168,453

Revenue 87,305 169,675 15,832,557 35,580,305 57,797,959

COGS 81,779 153,198 6,352,339 15,553,388 27,361,363

Gross Margin 5,526 16,478 9,480,218 20,026,917 30,436,597

Operating Expenses 127,101 208,986 3,809,013 7,926,456 11,642,263

Income Before Taxes (121,575) (192,508) 5,671,206 12,100,460 18,794,333

Net Income (123,705) (215,471) 3,520,609 7,247,513 11,268,637

Sponsor Money 30,000 55,000 370,000 430,000 450,000

• Initial Investment : $100,000

• Financing : $200,000 at Y1 for operating expense

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Powered Mobility Controller Platform• Smart controller for Personal

Mobility and Manipulation Appliance (PerMMA)Gen I as PerMMA I Controller Gen II as PerMMA II Controller

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Top View of Smart Controller

Amplifiers to control driving wheels

Customized PCB board.Interface btw sensors, encoders and PC

Kill Switch for Safety PC – Single Board Embedded Cobra

10.5”

5.25”

10.00”

Input Command,i.e, joystick

Display from PC

Two fans to Cool System Down

Power Switch

Ethernet Connection to communicate with another computer

Smart Controller Design

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Market Research• Potential users and market size

– Powered mobility device users

• Market size:

– 1.4-2.1 million (represents 61-91% of all wc users)

– Persons 65+: by 2030, 75% of 69 million people will be 65+

– 40% increased users based on prescriptions

– Powered mobility devices suppliers or manufacturers

• Invacare, Permobil, Pride Mobility, etc

– Powered mobility research

• 200+ enttities

– Higher education: estimated 5,700

– Wheelchair clinics: estimated 15,000

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Commercialization factors• Promising preliminary data

– Safe and reliable

– Improving the driving performance

– Used for multiple research projects

• Platform technology– Used on three EPWs already

– Conduct some clinical studies

• FDA approval– Will not be a big issue

– hardware and software design are according to FDA requirements

– Previous experiences on similar products

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Evaluation

• 100% recommend program• 78% suggest interest in

entrepreneurship increase– Independent thinking skills

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Evaluation

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Evaluation

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Challenges

• Student funding• Mentorship commitment variability• Faculty familiarity with technology

transfer

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Changes

• Templates• Training• Basecamp• MS Engineering/MBA student

involvement

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Program Outcomes

• Big Idea Competition• LINC Designs• 1 SBIR submitted• Grants in review

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Create your own program

• $80k/year including admin, student stipends, project supplies, travel expenses

• 10% supported by NCIIA– Supplies

– Admin support

– Travel to design competitions & entrepreneurship conferences

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Create your own program

• Multidisciplinary partnerships across university departments

• Project based courses– e.g. RST design series

• Independent study courses

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Create your own program

• Workshops– Concept generation

– Prototyping

– Patents

– Intellectual property

– Product development economics

– Managing projects

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Acknowledgements • Funding: National Collegiate Innovators &

Inventors Alliance Grant #7563-10, National Science Foundation Grants EEC0540866 & EEC0849878, Berg Center for Ethics & Leadership

• Mentors: Mary Jo Geyer, Dennis Janisse, Linda van Roosmalen, Eric Porach, Honwu Wang,Rory Cooper

• Students: Melvin McElrath, Max Gruder, Kira Eckstein, Jonathan Valz, Rob Fillippi, Joe Trebitz, QoLT Foundry Interns

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References*• Ansi/Resna. “American National Standard for Wheechairs-- Volume 1-19 Wheelchairs used as seats in

motor vehicles.” Rehabilitation Engineering and Assistive Technology Society of North America: Virginia (2000).

• Auerswald, P.E. and L.M. Branscomb. “Valleys of Death and Darwinian Seas: Financing

• the Invention to Innovation Transition in the United States.” The Journal of Technology Transfer, 28 (2003): 227-239.

• Hawtrey, K. "Using Experiential Learning Techniques." Journal of Economic Education, 38 (2007): 143-152.

• Kirby, R.L. and D.A. MacLeod. "Wheelchair-related injuries reported to the National Electronic Injury Surveillance System: an update." RESNA 2001 Annual Conference: Reno, NV (2001).

• Knotts, T.L. "The SBDC in the Classroom: Providing Experiential Learning Opportunities at Different Entrepreneurial Stages." Journal of Entrepreneurship Education, 14 (2011): 25-38.

• Kolb, D. “Experiential Learning Theory: Previous Research and New Directions” In R. J. Sternberg and L. F. Zhang (Eds.), Perspectives on cognitive, learning, and thinking styles. NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum, (2000).

• Kolb, D. Experiential learning. Englewood Cliffs: Prentice-Hall (1984).

• Legs to Stand On. http://www.legstostandon.org (2011)

• McCarthy, P.R. & H.M. McCarthy. "Why Case Studies are not Enough: Integrating Experiential Learning into Business Curricula." Journal of Education for Business 81 (2009): 201-204.

• Phillips, B. and H. Zhao. "Predictors of Assistive Technology Abandonment." Assistive Technology, 5 (1993): 36-45.

*Additional project references (i.e. from Bus Buddy, Low-Cost Footwear, Smart Controller projects) available upon request.

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Contact informationMary R. GoldbergUniversity of PittsburghSchool of Health and Rehabilitation SciencesRehabilitation Science and Technology6425 Penn AvePittsburgh, PA 15206mrh35@pitt.eduwww.herl.pitt.eduwww.qolt.pitt.edu412-822-3700