InvoTek will develop a robotic arm for transferring hospital and nursing home patients. This device will not attempt to address every lifting situation. Instead, InvoTek will concentrate on the most common lifting situations for the majority of patients. This focus will allow InvoTek to design a device capable of comfortably lifting a patient from a sitting to a standing position in approximately 10 seconds. This device will support the patient through ambulation to the desired destination, and promptly lower the patient back to a sitting position. It will allow the care-giver to lift a person as tall as 6.5 feet, weighing as much as 300 pounds, with minimal effort. The process of lifting, which requires very little setup time, will be accomplished with a simple, intuitive control.
