Innovation is constantly changing lives, whether it be through technology, green energy, health, or other means. Toyota’s Mobility Unlimited Challenge that first launched in 2017, is a global competition striving to inspire developers in the creation of new technology for people who deal with lower limb paralysis. Inventors and engineers from across the globe submitted their ideas and concepts to the competition in hopes of placing and winning funds toward their project. As the teams developed their ideas, they collaborated with users to ensure ease of use and make any adjustments based on feedback.
The five finalists have battled it out for supremacy, but it all comes down to who will win the $1 million grand prize. With the top contenders being an intelligent wheelchair and an exoskeleton on wheels. Each finalist team will receive $500,000 toward the development of their concept, with a winner set to be crowned in 2020.
Toyota has unveiled the competitions’ finalists at this year’s CES.
One of the finalists is the Evowalk, developed by Evolution Devices. The concept is a non-intrusive sleeve that utilizes sensors worn around the leg to track the users walking motion and stimulate muscles to improve mobility. The technology is designed to help rehabilitate muscles over time.
The Moby was another design chosen by judges, produced by Italdesign, it’s the first mobility service created for wheelchairs. The design is like that of bicycle sharing often found in large cities. The same principle will be used in the creation of the Moby, which will utilize wheel-on electric devices so a user can move around a city at greater speeds if they need to cover long distances.
The Phoenix Ai Ultralight Wheelchair from Phoenix Instinct is the third finalist in the list. The Phoenix Ai wheelchair incorporates ultra-lightweight materials and sensors that help to balance and adjust to the users movements. The lightweight structure and adjusting ability provides improved usability and decimates painful vibrations.
One device that departs from traditional wheelchair design is the Qolo Standing Device from Team Qolo at the University of Tsukuba in Japan. The design is a lightweight mobile exoskeleton that permits the user to sit or stand when they want. The exoskeleton is controlled using the upper body, giving users the hands free ability to go about their day.
The final project chosen was the QUIX, co-developed by researchers at the Florida Institute for Human and Machine Cognition (IHMC) and Myolyn. Their design focused on a powered exoskeleton that would provide quick, stable, and agile upright mobility for people with lower-limb paralysis.
Eric Krotkov, PhD, chief science officer at Toyota Research Institute and one of the judges of the Mobility Unlimited Challenge, says, “There are so many technological opportunities to explore approaches to alleviate challenges stemming from lower-limb paralysis. A competition like the Mobility Unlimited Challenge gets innovators to focus on the same problem to identify something of great common interest that serves society.”
Krotkov went on to say further, “I am excited by these finalists who have a breadth of technical approaches—wheelchairs, orthotics, braces, exoskeletons. I look forward to seeing how they will take these devices out of their conceptual stage to help our end users.”
These devices have the power to change thousands of lives and provide more independence for people with lower-limb paralysis. No matter the winner, every one of the contestants have created advances in mobility technology and hopefully we see them all implemented in some form or another in the future.
