UPnRIDE Robotics Ltd. announced today that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has cleared the UPnRIDE™ Robotic Standing Wheelchair for marketing and use in the U.S. This first and only smart and robotic mobility device provides full functionality, both in standing and sitting positions. The UPnRIDETM will be available soon for wheelchair users and the elderly in the U.S.
“The approval of our UPnRIDE™ standing wheelchair is another very important milestone in our mission to offer health benefits and improved quality of life to millions of people suffering from walking impairments,” said Dr. Amit Goffer, founder and president of UPnRIDE™ Robotics Ltd.
Commenting on the FDA clearance, Dr. Goffer added: “I have had a long-standing vision that all people confined to a wheelchair should have access to enhanced mobility and enjoy the many health benefits associated with the ability to perform everyday tasks in a standing position. With the introduction of UPnRIDETM, this dream is becoming a reality.”
The UPnRIDETM standing wheelchair is innovative and unique in providing users with full, safe, functional mobility in a standing position, in practically any urban environment, both indoors and outdoors. The UPnRIDETM mobility device is suitable for most wheelchair users, including paraplegics, quadriplegics, the elderly and people suffering from MS, ALS, CP, stroke, TBI and other conditions that limit physical movement.
“Empowered by the FDA approval, UPnRIDE™ Robotics will now develop a distribution and service center network in the U.S. to enable American users to benefit from this innovative product,” said Oren Tamari, CEO of UPnRIDE™ Robotics Ltd.
“By enabling upright mobility, UPnRIDETM delivers numerous health, economic and societal benefits. It reduces the visibility of the disability, providing wheelchair users with a fresh, new perspective on the world, on themselves, and on life,” Tamari added.
Dr. Goffer, who is himself a quadriplegic is an entrepreneur and the father of ReWalk, the wearable robotic exoskeleton that enables people with spinal cord injury to stand upright and walk. He is scheduled to speak in front of 18,000 people this Sunday at the AIPAC Policy Conference, where he promised his audience seven years ago that he would return on stage upright. On Sunday, he will fulfill that promise. UPnRIDETM originated from the commitment Dr. Goffer made to himself to allow paraplegics to walk again, as he personally needed a solution to take wheelchairs into the 21st century.
Source: Company Press Release