Brothers Barry and Jered Dean weren’t looking to start a company when they embarked on hacking Barry’s daughter Katherine’s power wheelchair.
“Originally there was no intention of starting a company, that wasn’t on the table,” Jered, a Denver-based former Lockheed Martin engineer, said. “We were just going to hack Katherine’s chair and then after that we’d go and get the technology we thought was out there.”
They didn’t anticipate the gap in wheelchair innovation they’d soon encounter.
The duo originally began this search in an attempt to find a safe solution for wheelchair tips and falls. Given the weight of the machinery, these falls can be catastrophic and sometime fatal.
“We went looking for a technology to change that, to deal with collision avoidance and not dropping off of curbs or steps or porches,” Barry, a Grammy-nominated songwriter, said. “And, also, we wanted connectivity and that didn’t seem to exist either. It was frustrating, we couldn’t find a solution.”
The two were baffled at the lack of innovation for such expensive power wheelchairs; Barry added that Katherine’s chair retails for around $80,000.
“What you’d expect the technology to be like wasn’t there. We really couldn’t believe it, she and people living with disabilities like hers were asked to wait for innovation that a bathroom scale or a toaster already has,” he said.
So, what began as a personal project morphed into much more. The Deans would create a publicly available smart wheelchair solution for people with disabilities.
In 2017, the brothers launched LUCI and began developing a product that would provide unmatched safety and independence for power wheelchair users.
LUCI’s hardware mounts onto a power wheelchair between the power base and the seat, to help users avoid collisions and dangerous drop-offs while maintaining personalized driving control.
Jered said LUCI becomes a copilot for the user, that maps surroundings and is tuned to the user’s reaction time. The sensor-fusion system combines data from cameras, ultrasonic sensors and radar into a single, 360-degree view of the world.
“With LUCI keeping track of the world around you, you have more confidence to go places and do things and safely navigate the world,” he said.
Additionally, through its cloud-based software capabilities and app, LUCI can monitor and alert users and caregivers to low battery, potential tipping scenarios and other important updates regarding the chair and the user. All of LUCI’s technology only uses 5% of a wheelchair’s power bank, Jered said.
In December, Numotion, a provider of mobility, health and personal independence products, signed a national distribution agreement with LUCI to make its smart wheelchair technology directly available to power wheelchair riders for the first time. Through the agreement, Numotion became the first U.S. distributor for LUCI’s hardware and software product. LUCI retails for $8,445 and is compatible with a variety of makes and models of power wheelchairs.
In addition, LUCI was recently named to Time’s list of The Best Inventions of 2020 in the accessibility category.
The technical side of LUCI’s operation is based in Denver and the rest of the team is in Nashville, where Barry is located.
Locally, LUCI has teamed up with the University of Colorado Denver – Center for Inclusive Design and Engineering (CIDE) in a partnership where clinicians, engineers, researchers and academics work together to provide people with disabilities access to the most cutting-edge technology and innovation.
The LUCI team has allowed its technology to be experienced by the University of Colorado team and individuals who were early users of the technology to provide feedback that have led to product refinements.
The company is ramping up its production in anticipation of national distribution in the early parts of next year. As they grow, Jered said LUCI will continue innovating on its smart wheelchair technology, with hopes to fit additional makes and models of chairs.
While both brothers reinforced the idea that they never started this process with a business in mind, they’re happy to now provide innovative technology to an oft-forgotten group of people. Reflecting on that journey, Barry summed up the motivation for LUCI succinctly.
“We said, the chair is not living up to the potential of the person in the chair, and that is a crime.”
