Describe the health care issue you will develop a solution for. Include a description of the pathology your device or technology that will treat/prevent/diagnose.
Difficulty walking due to impaired lower body movement and difficulty with balance affect the elderly population. These conditions significantly increase the likelihood of a person to fall and suffer traumatic injuries.
Falling can be prevented by utilizing an adaptable cane to evenly distribute the weight of the body. Improves stability as well as balance. Moreover, an assistive anchor will allow for better stability. The bottom of our cane would have a pin mechanism that allows the bottom of the cane to mold to any surface it encounters. The cane would also have a mechanism that allowed the user to adjust the height of the cane easily, allowing the user to use the cane for walking and to assist in getting up from the sitting position.
Customer Validation: Create a list of 20 specific customers that you would contact to validate your device/technology (physicians, individuals, organizations etc).
-Walgreens
-CVS
-Fashionable Canes
-The Walking Cane Store
-Brazo’s Walking Sticks
-Bella Vista Senior Living
-Mirabella at ASU
-Isokinetics Inc.
-AliMed
-YCH Ind. Corp
-Herdegen Paris
-Sunrise Medical
-AMG Medical
-Briggs Healthcare
-XXL Rehab
-TOCA the orthopedic clinic foundation (PHX area)
-Abrazo Community Health Network
-ONWARD orthopedics by Nobilis Health
-P. Dean Cummings, M.D. (602) 277-6211
-Richard J. Emerson (602) 277- 6211
-Lawrence W. of 101 Mobility (480) 553- 7029
-Ultimate Medical Equipment (602) 978- 4100
-Valley Medical Supplies (602) 737- 0514
-Mobility Center (480) 890- 0878
-Southwest Mobility, Inc. (877) 429- 0944
-Mobility Center (480) 890- 0878, (602) 547- 1842
Competitors: List current solutions for this health care issue. Create a column for each of the following:
Walking Cane Company
Advantages:
Custom made canes and walking sticks with various materials; aesthetically pleasing.
Wide variety of different canes and walking sticks with many accessories.
Disadvantages:
High end materials that are expensive but offer no physical advantages.
Simple canes that don’t have the non-slip base that our cane offers
No difference between other canes that are offered on the market.
Our design (name TBD)
Advantages (with reference to other solutions)
Non-slip, automatically leveling base.
Anchor button that helps with stability
Retractable, able to adjust for height.
Disadvantages
Not as aesthetically pleasing as other wooden canes.
Anchor not as effective on rough surfaces.
Pin mechanism may be difficult to manufacture.
Expensive relative to to other simple canes.
IP Position: Perform a patent search and describe existing patents related to your device/technology.
Dual Handle cane (the upper handle is used for walking and the lower handle is used for aid when standing up from a sitting position)
Universal adjustable walking crutch and/or cane (cane that can be turned into a crutch)
Walking aid cane (cane that has four legs that come out of the bottom for optimal balance)
Illuminated walking assistance apparatus (acts as a regular cane but has a light that illuminates everything immediately around it)
Robotic cane (one big wheel on the bottom that allows the user to glide the wheel in any direction but also stop the wheel from moving and use it as a regular cane)
Cane with remotely operated jaw
Using the information you have compiled, score the above portions of the fundability worksheet.
Competitors - 1
Customer Validation - 2
IP Position - 2
BME 100 Spring 2018
