Curing Disability With Robotics
Ramp USA is on a mission to cure disability using robotics.
Its initial product is designed to aid the more than 11 million Americans confined to wheelchairs as a result of lower limb disabilities.
This product, called the Ramp Chair, is a battery-powered attachment that converts any manual wheelchair into an off-road electric vehicle. Long-term, this company aims to build robotic exoskeletons to make wheelchairs obsolete.
The Ramp Chair self-balances to “wheelie” over obstacles, and can climb over rocks and curbs. It can be controlled remotely, and navigate through grass, gravel, mud, and snow.
Weighing less than 35 pounds, it’s the lightest electric wheelchair in the world. And because it attaches to manual wheelchairs, even if the battery runs out, the user isn’t left stranded.
Ramp USA has completed a prototype of its chair, and pre-sales began in August 2019. The company completed the Techstars Boulder accelerator program, and received $100,000 in funding from a Thiel Fellowship grant.
Ramp USA’s advisors include Tesla’s former Director of Manufacturing Engineering, and the former CEO of ADI Wheelchairs. ADI developed the first carbon-fiber backrests and disc brakes for wheelchairs, and was acquired in 2015.
Prominent accelerator for tech companies. Investments include Uber, ClassPass and Twilio.
A private foundation created and funded by billionaire Peter Thiel, co-founder of PayPal and early investor in Facebook.