7 November 2018
SparkOptimus congratulates Project March on their amazing achievements to date and is very proud to have recently begun working with this ‘DreamTeam’ from TU Delft! Project March develops exoskeletons, structures that give back mobility to people with severe spinal cord injuries, and is thé award-winning team in the annual ‘Paralympic bionic games’, an international competition in which both commercial and academic exoskeleton developers test out their new prototypes. Last week, they were honored by an invitation from the Dutch King and Queen and the Economic Department for a royal showcase in the United Kingdom.
Project March is part of a community of 10 rigorously selected, multi-disciplinary teams at the TU Delft, each working on realizing some sort of advanced, super-efficient or highly innovative machine. Other DreamTeams include the Delft Hyperloop and the NUON Solar Team. The exoskeleton leverages advanced motor and sensor technologies, combined with increasingly complex software programming – and potentially with artificial intelligence in the near future.
Founded 3 years ago, Project March is a rotating team of 15-20 students from the Technical University Delft. The students spend one year (full-time) working on the design and development of an exoskeleton that will allow patients with spinal cord injuries and leg dysfunction to stand up and walk again. Every year, the new intake of students takes the prototype to the next level, culminating in an end-of-year international competition that tests out their new prototype with both commercial and academic exoskeleton developers. In these so-called ‘Paralympic bionic games’, the exoskeleton user is required to overcome several everyday obstacles, such as climbing stairs, stacking cups on a table and walking up a slope. In 2017, Project March was runner-up in their category; in 2018, they came first!
The team asked SparkOptimus to help facilitate internal discussions and support them in defining what they want Project March to be, shaping the identity and the overarching long-term vision of the initiative and determining the 5-year objectives. SparkOptimus is currently holding a series of workshops with the Project March strategic working group, facilitating the team’s thought processes, structuring viewpoints, synthesizing ideas and verbalizing intuition as well as playing the devil’s advocate. So far, the group has already been able to recognize that their mission is essentially to improve the lives of people with extremely limited mobility by challenging students and continuing to innovate.
The three consultants from SparkOptimus’ internal group SOcial are also super excited to work on this project. The consultants jumped at the opportunity when SparkOptimus was asked for support, excited at the prospect of working with a start-up in technology and innovation that’s striving to make the world a better place with its product.
SparkOptimus is always keen on hearing about interesting and relevant projects that make an important contribution to society. If you are working on such a project and are interested in engaging with SparkOptimus’ SOcial group to gain more knowledge on digital strategy, get in touch at SOcial@sparkoptimus.com.