Dignum, selvstendighet og verdighet på toalettet

We make gear to give people a more independent everyday life. Our first product is aimed at spinal cord injury and other people with disabilities to enable them to go to the toilet without assistance. We do this by putting the user at the center while developing the product. Our study at the Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering at NTNU in Trondheim has taught us the importance of this user-centered approach to design and to fail early through physical prototyping to succeed faster. The research lab TrollLabs and Professor Martin Steinert have been particularly important at the department. We want to focus on the idea because we have seen how much positive impact the first prototypes have had on Tord's everyday life. With C6/7 complete spinal cord injury it was almost impossible to become independent, but he has gone from being completely dependent on the nurse in order to go to the toilet to be completely independent. It has given him the freedom to go to work whenever he wants and to travel wherever he wants. It would therefore be selfish of us not to take it further so we can help many others with similar needs. In order to do this, we need to test on other users and then develop the business to deliver a reliable product with high ease of use. Independence Gear exist to give people a daily life that they have control over. Who are we? Carl Christian Sole Semb, 26 years. Born and raised in Bærum. Master of Science, Mechanical Engineering. Through his work at the innovation lab ProtoMore in Molde, he has stretched the mindset and facilitated idea development for entrepreneurs and established businesses since they opened in January 2016. Tord Are Meisterplass, 28 years. Born and raised in Sogndal. Master of Science, Geotechnology. Spinal cord injury, idea owner and first user/tester of the product. Nikolai Hiorth, 28 years. Born and raised in Oslo. Master of Science, Mechanical Engineering. Loves to make things, and has done so all his life.