Titan Arm Team: Idea to Final Prototype

Elizabeth Beattie & Nick McGill Co-Developers

Y-Prize Kickoff January 27, 2014

Motivation Injury prevention •  American workers suffer upper body injuries that

cause 7,000 years of lost productivity, costing over $50 billion in treatment (US Dept. of Labor)

Rehabilitation and therapy •  More that 5 million people are left permanently

disabled by strokes each year (World Health Organization)

Hardiman 1965

Hybrid Assistive Limb (HAL) 2005

University of Tokyo 2012

Titan Arm: A Proof-of-Concept Solution

Titan Arm: A Proof-of-Concept Solution

Ideation & Design

Ideation & Design

Completed Prototype

Response “Ten years ago I had a bad injury snowboarding, that resulted in residual nerve damage and 9 months in an upper-body immobilizer. I would love to be considered for Alpha/Beta testing of your arm device. I'd SO love to get my mobility and strength back.”

Designer from California

“Is it possible for your Titan Arm to help me? My arm is now in a semi paresis state, I can not lift heavier things and my hand grip is very weak.”

27 y/o from Romania

The hopeful return to my job entails warehousing heavy and overhead items which is how the injury occurred.  I wish to inquire if I may be considered as a test subject.”

54 y/o from Pennsylvania

Ideation & Design

•  Keep track of timeframe •  Technical feasibility –  If necessary, scale back and expand

design on future iteration

•  Speak with potential users

Team Dynamics

Mechanical Engineers

•  Electrical engineering (second major) •  Programming

•  Engineering entrepreneurship •  Advanced manufacturing techniques

•  Research in orthopaedics and biomechanics (5+ yrs)

•  Integrated product design •  Advanced manufacturing techniques

Team Formation

•  Identify enthusiastic, passionate people with unique and useful skills

•  Skills learned were directly transferred out of the classroom and implemented in the design process

•  Project execution is key! •  Team Titan – Team was formed prior to ideation

process

Media •  Make a website! (TitanArm.com) –  Tumblr, Squarespace, Google Sites,

Wordpress, etc. •  Have content to share! – Videos, photos, CAD renders, circuit

diagrams •  Reach out! – Use your network –  Start with your department, then Penn

Engineering, then Penn, then the world – Contact local newspapers –  Engadget, Gizmodo, Make:Blog, Hackaday,

etc.

Intellectual Property

•  International IP Claims ― No public disclosures before filing

•  In the US ―  First to file ― Public disclosures are allowed — but be careful

IP in the USA •  More than $20k over 3 years to get patent

― Make sure it makes sense!

•  Helps if you can do work on your own

― Keep good documentation in lab notebook

― CAD drawings, circuit diagrams reduce workload

•  File provisional patent within year of 1st public disclosure

― Sooner the better

•  Patentability search

― Experts determine if worth time & money, ~$2k

Working with Penn

Mentoring

Funding

Legal Assistance

Our Mentors

Mentoring Resources

•  Weiss Tech House (tech-house.upenn.edu)

― Events, mentors, workspace

•  Penn Entrepreneurship Club (pennec.com)

•  Founder’s Club (pennfoundersclub.tumblr.com)

•  Wharton eClub (whartoneclub.com)

•  Wharton VIP (vip.wharton.upenn.edu)

•  Entrepreneur-in-residence (entrepreneurship.wharton.upenn.edu/eir/)

Mentoring Resources •  PennApps (pennapps.com)

•  Engineering Courses

― EAS 545: Engineering Entrepreneurship I

― EAS 546: Engineering Entrepreneurship II

― Entrepreneurship Minor

•  Wharton Courses

― MGMT 230: Entrepreneurship

― OPIM 415: Product Design

Professional Organizations ( )

Corporate Sponsorships Just ask!

Local companies are great resources

Our Funding

Companies might want to sponsor you, in any way they can…

… like the

Y-Prize!

•  Weiss Tech House(tech-house.upenn.edu) Innovation Fund, Pennvention

•  Dorm Room Fund (dormroomfund.com/philly)

•  Wharton Business Plan Competition (bpc.wharton.upenn.edu)

•  Wharton VIP (vip.wharton.upenn.edu)

•  MentorTech Ventures (mentortechventures.com)

•  First Round Capital (firstround.com)

•  DreamIt [& DreamIt Health] (dreamitventures.com)

Funding Resources

Legal Assistance

•  Center for Tech Transfer (CTT) •  Cover patent costs for a cut of product

revenue

•  Penn Law •  Detkin IP Legal Clinic •  Entrepreneurship Legal Clinic

•  Corporate interest •  Working with the CTT on patent rights

TitanArm.com

Titan Arm

Let us know if you have questions, comments, or want to bounce ideas around!

Nick McGill nmcgill.com

nicholas.h.mcgill@gmail.com

Elizabeth Beattie ebeattie@seas.upenn.edu