iBOT Poised for Comeback
May 21 2016 - 10:30AM
Business Wire
Toyota and Dean Kamen enter an agreement to
facilitate innovations that foster mobility solutions for the
disabled community
Toyota Motor North America is joining forces with DEKA Research
and Development, the company founded by legendary inventor Dean
Kamen, to support mobility solutions for the disabled community.
This agreement will help DEKA to proceed with plans to complete the
development and launch the next generation iBOT motorized
wheelchair.
The iBOT is a revolutionary motorized wheelchair with two sets
of powered wheels that can be rotated to allow the user to “walk”
up and down stairs. The wheelchair allows users to rise from a
sitting level to approximately six feet in height and travel in
this "standing" configuration, and is capable of traveling through
a wide variety of terrain types.
“Our company is very focused on mobility solutions for all
people,” said Osamu “Simon” Nagata, executive vice president and
chief administrative officer at Toyota Motor North America, who
announced the agreement at the Paralyzed Veterans of America’s 70th
Annual Convention. “We realize that it is important to help older
adults and people with special needs live well and continue to
contribute their talents and experience to the world.”
“Toyota and DEKA share the same vision of making mobility
available to people of every kind of ability,” said DEKA founder
Dean Kamen. “We are excited about this new relationship and excited
about what it means for making that dream a reality.”
Under the terms of the agreement, Toyota will license balancing
technologies held by DEKA and its affiliate for medical
rehabilitative therapy and potentially other purposes. The
companies continue to engage in ongoing discussions about how
Toyota can further support DEKA and its mobility assistance
technology.
About Toyota
Toyota (NYSE:TM), creator of the Prius hybrid and the Mirai fuel
cell vehicle, is committed to building vehicles for the way people
live through our Toyota, Lexus and Scion brands. Over
the past 50 years, we’ve built more than 30 million cars and trucks
in North America, where we operate 14 manufacturing plants (10 in
the U.S.) and directly employ more than 44,000 people (more than
34,000 in the U.S.). Our 1,800 North American dealerships (1,500 in
the U.S.) sold more than 2.8 million cars and trucks (nearly 2.5
million in the U.S.) in 2015 – and about 80 percent of all Toyota
vehicles sold over the past 20 years are still on the road
today.
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Toyota Business CommunicationsAaron
Fowles, (469) 292-1097
Toyota Motor (NYSE:TM)
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