#projectnotebook

Every day, more than 10 million Americans need a caregiver’s assistance to get out of bed into a wheelchair. For people living with disabilities, this is usually the biggest obstacle to mobility within their home or health care setting. In homes, hospitals, and nursing facilities, performing this transfer for fully immobile patients is a complicated and labor-intensive task. There are devices to help with this transfer, but even the best current methods are inadequate for our society’s rapidly aging population.

Our startup, Zephyr Mobility, began in March 2016 with a grant from the Innovation Co-Lab. In the last year, we have developed a completely new method for performing the transfer that is significantly safer, faster, more comfortable, and easier to use compared with current methods.

We have partnered with the Duke I&E Initiative and are in the 2017 cohort of the Melissa & Doug Entrepreneurs Program. We’re also in the running for Round 3 of the 2017 Duke Startup Challenge, and we’ve raised $5000 on Indiegogo! Check out our campaign and promotional video: 

https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/zephyr-mobility/x/15890941

Our current stage is prototype construction and customer discovery. We’re visiting facilities to learn their experiences with this problem in great detail and figure out how our solution can be most valuable to them.

So far, we have a working physical prototype of the proprietary technology that is the basis for our new transfer approach. Once we expand this prototype to a full-scale version, we can bring it to the facilities to get their feedback. (The picture below shows the new equipment we purchased to build this full-scale prototype!)

Through the Melissa & Doug Program, we have committed to working on this project full-time in summer 2017. We’re excited for this chance to focus on Zephyr Mobility and make lots of progress. Thank you to all our advisors and supporters, both at Duke and in the broader Durham community!

2/24/2017 - Robot Base Constructed 

Today, we finished construction of the base of our robot. Our base consists of three omni-directional wheels, each driven by a 12V 251RPM DC Motor. The 3 wheels are placed in a circularly symmetric orientation equally spaced apart, the radial positioning of the wheels are within 2% error. We chose a 3-wheeled orientation because it would ensure that all the wheels would be in full contact with the ground, as three points define a plane. Additionally, a 3-wheeled omni-drive system simplifies navigational motion planning because it enables the bot to arbitrarily change its direction and speed on the fly. I.e., the 3-wheeled omni-drive system does not face the Parallel Parking Problem.