Triangle Projects case study:

Gym Legend Exer-gaming - personal exercising equipment
In a 2010 Triangle Project uniting the expertise of the Royal College of Art and Imperial College London, an innovative personal fitness device has been prototyped utilising a patented programmable control mechanism originally conceived for use in passive medical robotics.

The basis of this project is a novel passive control mechanism developed by Yaroslav Tenzer, Dr Ferdinando Rodriguez y Baena and Professor Brian Davies, all members of the Imperial's Mechatronics in Medicine research group at the Department of Mechanical Engineering, Imperial College. Recognising that there would be wider applications for the technology, a commercial feasibility study involving a team of MBA students at Imperial College Business School was commissioned by Imperial Innovations plc.

The MBA team comprising Oliver Hofmann, Martin Balestra and Rushen Patel, all graduates with technology start-up and software backgrounds, identified additional applications for the technology and established that 'exer-gaming' would be an ideal primary target market. The market for exer-gaming, which is the activity of exercising at home in an interactive video game context, is rising and is predicted to increase further in the future.

Using the programmable passive control mechanism patents in an exercise application enables an innovative product which offers greater functionality and a level of fidelity that is not currently possible in the personal exercise equipment market. Key benefits include the small size and ease of use.

Having established a near market commercial application for the technology, the third corner of this Triangle Project was activated with the appointment of InnovationRCA associate, Anthony Clough, an MA graduate of Industrial Design Engineering, the joint Royal College of Art and Imperial College London degree programme.

With a strong background in engineering and design, Anthony undertook the task of translating the robotic technology into a consumer product suitable for mass production. The resulting fully functional and aesthetic prototype enabled user testing and demonstrated first proof of concept for the mechanism under full operating conditions.

Following the ensuing positive feedback from user trials, plans for a second prototype are underway to test a broader range of exercise options and commercialisation activities have commenced. Please contact Imperial Innovations for more information.