Berkeley alumni Todd Roberts (MEng’20 ME) and Owen Kent (B.A.’17 Film) have shown how an idea can turn into a product that makes a difference. The pair first developed Reflex, their robotic rehabilitation device, in a UC Berkeley course on assistive technologies. Now, six years later, they’re launching it through their company, ATDev, which aims to bring high-quality rehabilitation into the home.
The two met when Roberts, an incoming graduate student, responded to Kent’s Craigslist post advertising a room for rent. They became fast friends and, once classes started, realized they were both in Designing for the Human Body, a biomechanics course taught by mechanical engineering professor Grace O’Connell.
Kent, who had graduated from Berkeley a few years earlier, was the class mentor and interested in ways to innovate in the assistive technology space. “As a lifelong wheelchair user born in the early nineties, I’ve seen a lot of technology changes and have directly benefited from these new things,” he said. “I really want to contribute to that ecosystem professionally and dedicate a big portion of my life to building new things that hopefully improve people’s lives in the future.”
Roberts was introduced to assistive technologies while studying mechanical engineering as an undergraduate student at Northeastern University. Initially interested in exoskeletons, he came to Berkeley to pursue an MEng in mechanical engineering with a focus on biomechanics. His friendship with Kent helped cement his decision to build a long-term career in this space.
Kent first proposed the idea for Reflex in O’Connell’s class. “I had recently gotten a robotic arm attached to my wheelchair, and I was noticing that I was using it to reposition my body, which I couldn’t otherwise do,” he said. “I pitched the idea of trying to use lightweight, wearable robots to do daily physical therapy.”
According to Roberts, O’Connell’s class provided the perfect environment for them to pursue this idea together. “Grace had in place a mentorship program where students worked on a semester-long project,” he said. “During the fall semester, my student team and our mentor, Owen, did the initial research, then Grace helped our group set up an independent study for the spring semester. Afterward, we applied for a small grant from the Jacobs Institute for Design Innovation and were awarded $3,000 to build some prototypes that spring.”
Added Roberts, “The whole time, Grace was both guiding us from a technology perspective and cheering us on as we put in energy and time into our project. As our advisor, she kept laying out the yellow brick road, putting new opportunities in front of us.”
For O’Connell, it was gratifying to watch Kent and Roberts take a concept and turn it into a product with human impact. She hopes their work will encourage other students to pursue careers in the medtech space.
“The collaboration between Owen, as an external client, and Todd’s team in Designing for the Human Body truly embodied what I hope students take away from the course — using human-centered-design to solve real-world problems and improve human health,” said O’Connell. “Seeing their partnership grow from a class project into a product helping patients is something that I hope will inspire future students.”
Kent and Roberts’ efforts eventually led to the creation of Reflex, a device that looks like a knee brace with a robotic motor attached to it. Patients are individually fitted for the device, which is then delivered to their home. In accordance with a treatment plan, Reflex can apply either supportive forces that move the patient’s leg back and forth to restore range of motion, or resistive forces to build quadricep and hamstring strength.
While in use, the device is collecting patient data, including how well they are doing the prescribed exercises. That information is then sent to the patient’s care team, so they can remotely monitor and update parameters.
“Through this closed loop telehealth experience, the patient’s care team can determine whether they are meeting their goals and make recommendations, including returning to a clinic for more care,” said Roberts. “Owen’s original idea was to make physical therapy more accessible through low-cost, lightweight robotics. And that’s effectively what Reflex does.”
