Technology Update: the Self-Leveling Walker

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Advancing the development of the self-leveling walker

Self-leveling walker

The self-leveling walker was designed to meet the rehabilitation goal of mobility, allowing users to safely negotiate stairs and inclines while minimizing the cost of home adaptations and rehabilitation training time. Although this patented walker has been in development and testing since 2012, it has received a lot of attention over the past few years including the 2019 updates below.

  • Earlier this year, funds were received from the Louis Stokes Cleveland VA Medical Center and CWRU Technology and Validation Start-Up Fund Program to develop and fabricate a non-hydraulic prototype with initial clinical feedback.
  • The walker was selected as part of the 2019 I-Corps@Ohio cohort. This program will help the team validate the market potential of the walker by incorporating lean launch, customer discovery, and business model innovation methodologies. The team includes Stephanie Bailey and Frank Zitko as Entrepreneurial Leads and Dr. Ronald Triolo as PI.
  • The walker was named a Top 40 finalist at the Sixth Annual Igniting Innovation Conference and Awards hosted by the American Council for Technology and Industry Advisory Council (ACT-IAC), the premier public-private partnership in the government IT community. This year, there were 207 nominations - a record setting year for innovations by federal, state and local government, and industry from across the country. Kevin Foglyano will represent the APT Center and exhibit at the event on May 23, 2019 at the Renaissance Hotel in Washington DC.