Department of Veterans Affairs
Technology 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 Technology School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences Human Engineering Research Laboratories
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Talk Outline
• Introductions
• TIPeD overview
• 2011 program highlights
• 2012 program schedule
• 2012 projects
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Introductions
• Name • Where you are from • School • Year • Major • Study and Mentors
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TIPeD Program
Supplement ASPIRE & QoLT REU programs -Support Product Development Projects
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Motivation
Assistive Technology (can) help people live independently & participate in society
àBut poor designs undermine the benefit
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Why Poor Designs?
Weak Regulations
Untrained Clinicians
Reduced Funding
User is not
purchaser
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How Universities Help
• Leverage Interdisciplinary Programs
• Work on grant-funded product development
• Develop & transfer technologies
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HERL Technology Development
• Commercialized products
• 3 patents awarded; 9 pending
• Established business partners
• Multidisciplinary faculty, students, & staff driving innovations
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HERL Technology Development • Design & fabrication facilities
• Funding streams
• SBIR/STTR involvement
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TIPeD Program Structure
• Interdisciplinary team
• Solicited ideas from faculty
• Develop Project Mission
• Determine Commercial Potential
• Feasible 10-week objectives
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Students’ Objectives
Work as a team to: – Benchmark product – Update design – Determine market potential – Determine commercialization plan
Deliverable: Commercialization plan (rather than technical paper like other REUs)
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Commercialization Plan Outline Abstract: overview Aims: development & commercialization goals Research Strategy • Significance: importance of the problem & solution • Innovation: how is it different • Approach: how to achieve aims Commercialization Plan • Market Consumer, and competition • Intellectual Property Protection • Finance Plan • Production & Marketing Plan • Revenue Stream
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TIPeD long-term Goals
• ½ of projects secure seed funding within 1 year
• ¼ of projects result in a project with 2 years
• At least 1 design award per year
• Additional funding for TIPeD program within 12 months.
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2011 Highlights (1st Cohort)
• 6 primary students
• 3 projects – Bus Buddy
– Low-cost footwear
– Smart controller
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Example Project: 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
($1,000,000)
($500,000)
$0
$500,000
$1,000,000
$1,500,000
$2,000,000
$2,500,000
$3,000,000
$3,500,000
1 2 3 4 5
U.S.
Dol
lars
Year
Revenue Gross Margin Operating Income
Forecasted Revenue, Gross Margin, and Operating Income
Production Strategy
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2011 Program Outcomes
• Design Competition: Big Idea Competition (runner up)
• Company: LINC Designs for Bus Buddy
• Sustainability: 1 SBIR submitted
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2012 TIPeD Program Date Activities Deliverable
6/6 Technology Transfer, Linda van Roosmalen, LINC Designs
Weekly task list & deliverable for each partner; supply list
6/13 Idea Generation, Matt Zywica, Carnegie Mellon Project elevator pitch
6/20 Critical Design Review SBIR outline and Business Model Canvas
6/27 No meeting-watch video on Intellectual Property Submit questions to program directors related to your project
7/4 HOLIDAY SBIR draft peer review (due 7/6)
7/11 Design, Jonathan Cagan, Carnegie Mellon SBIR draft mentor review; competition selection & draft application
7/18 Practice Presentations SBIR draft to program directors
7/25 Final Presentations Final SBIR to program directors; evaluations
7/27 Final Symposium
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Weekly Meetings
• Update powerpoints – Tasks completed
– Next steps
• Project Management/team sites – Basecamp (to be setup this week)
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2012 TIPeD Projects • Cueing Handle
Students: Claire Bissa, Jon Ewing
Mentors: Josh Telson, Dan Ding, Jon Pearlman
• Navisection Students: Danny Christiana, Whitney Wilson, Andrew Wolf
Mentors: Nahom Beyene, Aaron Steinfeld, Rory Cooper
• Active Anti-tip System Students: Logan Cooper, Caitriona Leone
Mentors: Jon Duvall, Jon Pearlman
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Other Deliverables
• Poster
• Oral presentation
• Participation in comprehensive symposium
• Draft design competition application
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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
• 2011 students & mentors
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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.