Home   Syllabus   Grading   Project Generator   Video Wall   Sayings/Dichos   Class Projects

Elevator Pitch 1, 4/16/2012

Have you ever thought about what it's like to go through life in a wheelchair?

For example, how do you get stuff out of your backpack that's on the back of a wheelchair?

Somebody has to get that for you, until now.

I have developed a prototype for a motorized robotic arm that retrieves things from the back of a wheelchair and brings it to the front at the convenience of the user.

My product, the pack and swivel, is one small step toward making life in a wheelchair less inconvenient.

It is a dependable solution offering independence.

The pack and swivel will offer backpack access to 3 million users in the United States.

This is a simple robotics problem. With robots we have explored the surface of Mars, replaced many factory workers, and greatly improved surgical procedures.

So why is it that Tye and 3 million others like him have to ask for help getting their backpack?

I need to get this motorized. (move it from prototype to fully functional)

This problem dates back over a century to the first wheelchair ever made.

Insurance companies tell us how much were worth, and if you can do this (move as if using a nonmorotized wheelchair), its between $3 and $30,000 dollars.

For $30,000 we can do X X and X but we cant make a backpack accessable?

This is a call to action for you the engineer, you the robotics nerds, and you the future of America.

The insurance companies aren't going to pick this up, are you?

Elevator Pitch 2, 4/19/2012

In the United States alone there are over 3 million lifetime wheelchair users.

Have you ever thought about what life is like in a wheelchair?

For example, how do you get to your backpack when its on the back of your chair?

For the last 100 years somebody had to get that for you, until now.

I have developed a prototype of a robotic arm that retrieves things from the back of a wheelchair and brings it to the front at the convenience of the user.

My product, the baguette, is one small step toward making life in a wheelchair less inconvenient.

It's a dependable solution offering independence.

Dependable because we have already used robotics to explore the surface of Mars and to greatly improve surgical procedures.

Oh and did you know that motorized wheelchairs cost up to $30,000?

I bought a 2011 Nissan Sentra for $16,000 and it is all weather, can trek through huge puddles, gravel and sand, has cup holders a stereo and heating and cooling.

My friend Tye paid twice as much for a chair that he can't even use to carry a backpack to school with.

This is a huge imbalance in our efforts of innovation, lets move wheelchairs into the 21st Century starting with moving this product from prototype to fully working.

If you are a designer or robotics enthusiast, I need YOU to put this in the rightful hands of 3 million wheelchair users.

Elevator Pitch 3, 4/23/2012

In the United States alone there are over 3 million lifetime wheelchair users.

Have you ever thought about what life is like in a wheelchair?

For example, how do you get things out of your backpack when its on the back of your chair?

For the last hundred years someone had to get that for you, until now.

Because I have developed a prototype of a robotic arm that retrieves things from the back of the chair and brings it to the front at the convenience of the user.

My product, Hobson, is one small step toward making life in a wheelchair less inconvienient.

It is a dependable solution offering independence.

Dependable because we have already used robotics to explore the surface of Mars and to greatly improve surgical procedures.

Did you know that a motorized wheelchair can cost up to $30,000?

I bought a fully loaded 2011 Nissan Sentra for $16,000 and my friend Tye bought a chair for twice as much that doesn't even allow him to carry a backpack to school with.

We need to move wheelchairs into the 21st Century, and that begins with developing a fully functional Hobson.

So, if you are a designer or a robotics enthusiast, I need YOU to put this in the rightful hands of 3 million lifetime wheelchair users.

Movie script

1. Elizabeth (closeup, looking into camera): My name is Elizabeth Montano and this is my project for Discovery and Innovation at the University of New Mexico.

2. (voice over, reenactment of me watching someone in a truck get their wheelchair out of the back and get in it, me having an aha moment) Have you ever thought about what it's like to be in a wheel chair? What about some of the challenges you'd face on a daily basis?

3. (voiceover ) In the United States alone there are over 3 million lifetime wheelchair users. Many of whom attend school here at the University.

4. Elizabeth and Tye (reenactment of interview with Tye).
Elizabeth: Tye, I'd like to invent something to make life in a wheelchair a bit easier. I want you to talk to me about some of the challenges you face.
Tye: Well transferring from a chair into a vehicle is a big one.
Elizabeth: How so?
Tye: I have fallen off of a lift before and don't trust those things so I have a van that I can drive into.
Elizabeth: What else?
Tye: Opening doors gets tough, especially when ++++++.

5. (voiceover, freezeframe) Wheelchair users often face challenges that they have become accustom to, either because the challenge arises so often or is not one that has not been addressed. In particular, there is one that we as students have taken for granted.

6. (reenactment of interview with Tye)
Elizabeth: What is a major challenge you face while here at the University?
Tye: Besides the doors, I cant get to my backpack, I don't even carry one.
Elizabeth: so what do you do when you want to take things to class?
Tye: I carry them on my lap or this foot rest.
Elizabeth: and when you want to carry water or sunscreen or anything else what do you do?
Tye: I do without.

7. (voice over, pics or clips of the following) How is it that we have sent man to the moon, sequenced the human genome, have cities with driverless cars, and students in wheelchairs without backpack access (show Tye grasping for his chair)?

8. (voice over, show a young man in wheelchair on the battlefield maybe a wounded soldier, then age progress him in the same wheelchair) Here's why, since their first recorded use in the 1861 US civil war, we waited over 130 years to make accommodations for people in wheelchairs. In 1990 when The Americans With Disabilities Act was established we made accommodations for access to buildings and public facilities but not for access to what 99% of our population considers necessities. Like sunscreen on a hot day, or a backpack while attending school.

9. So why is it that we have smart cars and not smart wheelchairs? And why is it that problems like uneven terrain, unexpected changes in the weather, and the inability to ever be upright are set aside for the average Joe in a wheelchair?

10. It's because society through its institutions has decided how much 3 million US citizens are worth, and no more. The average motorized wheelchair costs anywhere from $3,000-30,000, and if you can do this (movement with arms as though using a manual chair) you're only worth $500-$4,000. This has put a huge damper on moving wheelchairs into this century.

11. For example, the iBOT was a movement towards wheelchair innovation, it climbs stairs, travels through 3 inches of water and gravel, and puts the user at eye level with the rest of the world. In 2006 each unit cost around $26,000, this is close to the maximum $30,000 allotment for a motorized wheelchair so what's the catch? You needed a prescription in order to get it and in 2009 Johnson and Johnson's Independence Technology stopped making it. Why? Because it wasn't a profitable business model.

12. After the iBOT the government started making exoskeletal suits for US soldiers to carry large amounts of weight while quickly traveling across the natural terrain of any environment. These are very near to being mass distributed to soldiers. How about making these suits for allowing people in wheelchairs to walk! Well, as an afterthought, exoskeletal suits are slowly being developed for people in wheelchairs with upper body mobility. Lets hope it's a profitable afterthought.

13. One of the newest innovations in wheelchair technology is the Tek Robotic Mobility Device made in Turkey. Again this model is for people with upper body mobility, it allows the user to stand upright as well as sit down, it is also almost half the width of the mechanical wheelchairs we currently make. Sorry ADA, why change the world when you can change the chair? The question is, does your insurance company think you are worth $15,000?

14. Let's say for now we forget the insurance companies and begin by taking the smaller matters of opening doors and getting to your back pack into our own hands, the hands of the innovators and the future of this country.

15. (show Tye and I demonstrating the product) I have developed a prototype for a motorized robotic arm that retrieves things from the back of a wheelchair and brings it to the front at the convenience of the user. My product, NAME, is one small step toward making life in a wheelchair less inconvenient.

16. What I need to put this into the rightful hands of 3 million wheelchair users is you.