Elkins Innovations is conducting research into a prosthesis capable of multiple movements controlled by a wireless electromechanical controller. Grand Rapids inventor Jeff Elkins developed the concept and worked on a prototype with the Small Business and Technology Development Center -- which is also housed at Grand Valley State University. The SBTDC's staff assisted in establishing a corporation, verifying the technology, developing a business plan and recruiting corporate management. With a patent pending, a technical advisory board was recruited from the area's professional community to further define and develop the technology.
Elkins hopes to provide this prosthesis to the tens of thousands of people who are confronted with the loss of an upper extremity, either through birth defect, injury, or disease. The research is supported by a $100,000 grant from the National Institute of Health's Small Business Innovation Research program.
Once this concept phase is completed in about six months, the project will concentrate on the refinement of the artificial hand, the foot control, and evaluation tools; as well as, the manufacture of hand and foot control devices for clinical trials, all leading to its commercial availability.
The company is housed at Grand Valley State University's West Michigan Science and Technology Initiative in Grand Rapids. The research team is led by principal investigator Renard Tubergen, Ph.D. Working with the company's technical advisory board, Tubergen will conduct "proof of concept" research under Grand Valley's Institutional Review Board.
The project has benefited from community collaboration throughout its development. In addition to help from the SBTDC and the Initiative, there have been student service learning projects directed by faculty from Grand Valley's Padnos School of Engineering, research and development support through the Institutional Review Boards of Grand Valley and Mary Free Bed Rehabilitation Hospital and test subject recruiting directed through Grand Valley's Seidman College of Business.
