The amazing iBOT is a stair-climbing robot that can take a disabled veteran to places they wouldn’t normally be able to go. It can also raise them up to around the height they would be if they could stand on their own.
The iBOT has many characteristics like a motorized wheelchair, but it is definitely much more than that. The iBOT is so good that it can raise the quality of life for the disabled, and vastly improve their mental state.
Unfortunately, the cost of the iBOT units made them hard to afford for many veterans, and in December 2009, as the economy was deteriorating, production of the iBOT was terminated by Johnson & Johnson.
Because Medicare would not expand funding for the iBOT in 2006, America’s Huey 091 Foundation stepped up to help. The foundation’s iBOT effort was initiated in 2007 and gained the financial and organizational support to supply 23 iBOTs to handicapped veterans. The VA also provided a total of 63 iBOT units.
The principal mission of America’s Huey 091 Foundation today is to “Help Restore the Freedom and Dignity to our Nations’ Wounded Disabled Heroes.”
Now, America’s Huey 091 Foundation, an all volunteer organization, and DEKA Engineering and Research, the company led by Dean Kamen, the inventor of the iBOT, are working together to return this unique mobility device to production.
Gary Sinise and the Lt Dan Band, who undertake many initiatives in support of the military and first responders, are working with America’s Huey 091 Foundation to promote a new initiative to restart production of the iBOT.
In the video below, Gary Sinise relates the life-changing benefits of the iBOT provided to handicapped veterans.
Colonel (Ret) Charles Bogle told NewsBlaze that Americas Huey 091 Foundation is asking people to join them in returning the iBOT to production. Colonel Bogle can be contacted by email at militaryretiree@centurytel.net
iBots change everything for paralyzed or amputee veterans
Thanks for your support.
Charles Bogle
Foundation VP
Americas Huey 091 Foundation
