February Update

Hey guys! My name is Samantha and I’m the project manager of the Rolling Robots InvenTeam. Just wanted to give a quick update about our Mid-Grant Technical Review that took place last month.

Our team traveled to Singleton Classics in Costa Mesa to present our invention. It was a really great experience for our team to get feedback on our design from some really cool people (including the founders of the Singleton Foundation, the Lemelson-MIT InvenTeam fellows, and MIT alumni). It was super amazing to be able to present the culmination of work up to this point. The venue was amazing; I have never seen as many vintage cars in one place in my entire life. Most importantly (arguably), they had a large spread of food at the buffet. The “InvenTea” and cookies were my favorites.

We got some interesting questions and comments that will help us develop our walker. For example, one man mentioned the use of our walker in an airplane. So, we measured our walker to see if it would fit in a luggage compartment and are adjusting our design for this use. Another person also mentioned the need for the walker to be accessible for people with diabetes. Because of this, we are going to incorporate a beeping sound for when the walker is within reaching distance for people who are blind. We also got some good questions and comments about the mechanics of our walker’s deployment process.

After our presentation, we displayed our invention at a booth. Thank goodness our walker stayed in one piece on our trip there. We brought our electrical system attached on a standard walker, our walker frame prototype, and brochures to show off our project.

One thing that the Lemelson-MIT Foundation shared with us is Slyngshot. Slyngshot is a tool that helps people launch their idea and create a business plan. They even gave us a free account and we’ve been working on our Slyngshot ever since.

Hope you guys enjoyed the read! Look forward to the next blog post shortly!