Products made available for manufacture and distribution

Products, in the context of Rehabilitation R & D, includes the wide range of devices, components, materials, and software that are designed and implemented, often in prototype form, for eventual use in some rehabilitation-related application or in an aspect of research relating to the population n-related application or in an aspect of research relating to the population served by the VA. Products of the R & D Center may be suited to immediate duplication and distribution or, more likely, they may require some degree of industrial engineering redesign or other modification to become marketable products that are suitable for commercial manufacture and distribution.

Some examples:

• a set of communication aids in the form of microcomputer disks which can be used by persons with speech impairments to convey information about daily living needs, accomplish specific vocational tasks, or for other applications
  
  
• a control mechanism that attaches to wheelchairs and provides directional control and adjustments in speed for individuals with severely limited upper body function
  
  
• a special purpose, speech-controlled robot to assist in essential table-top functions for quadriplegic users
  
  
• a device to transport patients with spinal cord injury which reduces risk during the movement process.

To meet the criterion of transferability, the product should be accepted by a manufacturer (as a prototype) leading to an eventual marketed product having essentially similar functional capacity. Transfer is also accomplished if there is a secondary "spin-off" of the prototype in a form that can be used in general applications other than research or rehabilitation or in unexpected areas within the field.

Investigator

Transfer Officer

Center Director