I like the background info in this IITSEC PR piece from November about the inventor, kind of a home-story touch, touching indeed. Interestingly, though, didnt find anything on the net neither about the company nor the guy, nor the trainer. Too early? Or is this an Air America type of company? Anyone has details? Or someone can enlight me about what "combat head" trauma is? R.
SOURCE: IITSEC news
DATE: NOV 28, 2008
Engineering A Solution
One of the first time exhibitors at I/ITSEC this year is Ultrathera
Technologies (Booth 3726), which is here exhibiting its Vestimumax
system. Vestimumax is a computer controlled multi-axis rotating
trainer capable of producing quantifiable vestibular (inner ear bal-
ance organs) stimuli.
Company CEO, and the inventor of the Vestimumax, Kevin Maher
told the Show Daily that he was here this year at the show because
he believes the system has potential in the military, medical and
training environments. However, the conception of the Vestimumax
lies in more personal circumstances.
“I invented it for my daughter who has cerebral palsy,” Maher
explains. “As a result of this cerebral palsy she had significant sen-
sory integration disorder and the doctors prescribed a number of
spins and rolls on the floor for her, but that was very difficult to pro-
vide and we were hurting her,” he states.
“I’m an engineer and I said I know I can automate this and that
was the birth of the Vestimumax,” Maher says. But that wasn’t the
end of the story. Maher happens to live in Colorado Springs, CO,
the home of the US Air Force Academy, and he soon realized that
his new invention could be used for other applications.
“They have a lot of these new cadets come in and there is a
washhout rate that occurs there. They don’t know if these kids are
going to be good pilots or not,” Maher explains. Vetimumax can be
used to set a benchmark and measure responses to the stimuli
and with the right metrics has the potential of being a good indicator
for suitability for flight duties.
However, the potential goes beyond that. Maher believes that given
the right circumstances, Vestimumax could be used to reduce the
effects of motion sickness and spatial disorientation. “We can use the
system to get over the motion sickness hump as pilots call it,” he
states. “My daughter, with this significant brain injury, when we first
started she was very sensitive to it and I could give her perhaps ten
rotations, but after two months I could not rotate it fast enough for
her and it was fun.”
The company Maher founded believes that there are a variety of
applications for the Vestimumax.
It could be used inpilot training, to push the physiological capabilities
of fighter pilots, or even for astronauts preparing for microgravity
environments. There is also the potential for further medical
uses including helping warfighters returning from conflicts that are
suffering from balance disorders caused by combat head trauma
SOURCE: IITSEC news
DATE: NOV 28, 2008
Engineering A Solution
One of the first time exhibitors at I/ITSEC this year is Ultrathera
Technologies (Booth 3726), which is here exhibiting its Vestimumax
system. Vestimumax is a computer controlled multi-axis rotating
trainer capable of producing quantifiable vestibular (inner ear bal-
ance organs) stimuli.
Company CEO, and the inventor of the Vestimumax, Kevin Maher
told the Show Daily that he was here this year at the show because
he believes the system has potential in the military, medical and
training environments. However, the conception of the Vestimumax
lies in more personal circumstances.
“I invented it for my daughter who has cerebral palsy,” Maher
explains. “As a result of this cerebral palsy she had significant sen-
sory integration disorder and the doctors prescribed a number of
spins and rolls on the floor for her, but that was very difficult to pro-
vide and we were hurting her,” he states.
“I’m an engineer and I said I know I can automate this and that
was the birth of the Vestimumax,” Maher says. But that wasn’t the
end of the story. Maher happens to live in Colorado Springs, CO,
the home of the US Air Force Academy, and he soon realized that
his new invention could be used for other applications.
“They have a lot of these new cadets come in and there is a
washhout rate that occurs there. They don’t know if these kids are
going to be good pilots or not,” Maher explains. Vetimumax can be
used to set a benchmark and measure responses to the stimuli
and with the right metrics has the potential of being a good indicator
for suitability for flight duties.
However, the potential goes beyond that. Maher believes that given
the right circumstances, Vestimumax could be used to reduce the
effects of motion sickness and spatial disorientation. “We can use the
system to get over the motion sickness hump as pilots call it,” he
states. “My daughter, with this significant brain injury, when we first
started she was very sensitive to it and I could give her perhaps ten
rotations, but after two months I could not rotate it fast enough for
her and it was fun.”
The company Maher founded believes that there are a variety of
applications for the Vestimumax.
It could be used inpilot training, to push the physiological capabilities
of fighter pilots, or even for astronauts preparing for microgravity
environments. There is also the potential for further medical
uses including helping warfighters returning from conflicts that are
suffering from balance disorders caused by combat head trauma
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