Duerstock & team develop assistive wheelchair technology RoboDesk

Alexander Lo, a researcher in the Purdue Center for Paralysis Research, uses an iPad on the RoboDesk. (Purdue Research Foundation Photo)
A Purdue startup is commercializing an assistive wheelchair technology that could provide people with disabilities an efficient and easy-to-use method to more easily position and remove an iPad or other mobile device without being limited by a table or moving in and out of the chair. The company has recently developed its first prototype.

Prehensile Technologies, commercializing the technology as RoboDesk, was developed in the laboratory of Brad Duerstock, Purdue University associate professor of industrial engineering and engineering practice in the School of Industrial Engineering and the Weldon School of Biomedical Engineering, and Li Hwa Chong, a Purdue alumnus, who co-founded the company.

Duerstock, who has been developing the technology since 2013 in the Purdue Institute of Accessible Science, said that there are products similar to his on the market but they don't have the same benefits as his technology.

The RoboDesk uses a motorized mount on a wheelchair that utilizes an arm to deploy or retract a mobile electronic device such as a tablet or lightweight notebook. The assistive tray's multifunctional design enables it to be used for other purposes, such as a writing surface or meal tray.

Related Link: http://www.purdue.edu/newsroom/releases/2015/Q4/purdue-startup-commercializes-assistive-wheelchair-technology,-develops-first-prototype.html