Alumnus Horst Earns IERA Award for AlterG Bionic Leg

CS alumnus Robert Horst (MS EE ’78, PhD CS ‘91) of AlterG Inc. won the 9th annual Invention and Entrepreneurship Award in Robotics and Automation (IERA) for the Tibion Bionic Leg, now called the AlterG Bionic Leg. He was awarded the IERA at the International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA) in Karlsruhe, Germany. The AlterG Bionic Leg is a wearable robotic mobility assistance device. Under the direction of physical therapists, it is used by patients with impaired mobility to strengthen stance, improve gait, and enhance active motor learning.

Horst’s device won the award for being a “breakthrough product for rehabilitation of stroke patients at an affordable price, offering a compelling story of an entrepreneurial journey with typical ups-and-downs culminating in a successful business,” according to the citation for the award.

The initial idea for the bionic leg came to Horst when he had knee surgery in high school. “I just felt there was a need for new technology for assistance devices. We were still using walkers, and crutches and canes, and we aren’t making very much use of new technology,” Horst said. In 2001, after gaining significant experience in the industry, Horst returned to that idea and began research. In the following year, he and a partner officially started Tibion Corporation .

Horst explained how the concept evolved from an always-on aid to a physical therapy device that would have lasting impact for self-reliant walking. “The original idea was to make an assistance device that would be worn by the patient all the time. But then once we finally developed the device, we found that it was very effective for physical therapy. It wasn’t useful just when they were wearing the device, but when they take it off, they would be walking much better.”

As the citation for the reward mentions, there were challenges along the way to success for Horst’s product. One of those challenges was acquiring funding. “Probably the major challenge was always funding, because we started in right after the dot-com bust in 2001. And then we went all the way through the big financial meltdown in 2008.”

Beyond the financial obstacles, technical issues needed to be answered before progress could be made. “It needs to apply 500 pounds of linear force in something that can be worn and powered by just a few lithium ion batteries.” The device also “needs to be able to apply the force when assistance is needed by the patient, and then get out of the way and let the patient’s leg move freely when no assistance is needed.” These factors, along with ensuring the leg could determine the intention of the patient so it would do what the patient wanted it to do, were formidable engineering obstacles to tackle.

Horst described one of the moments that made the difficult journey worthwhile. “When we first brought it to a therapy clinic in Morgan Hill and tried it on some patients . . . they could stand up and sit down and go up and down stairs, and could do things that they had never been able to do since they had the stroke or their brain injury. We realized for the first time that we really had a product that would help people.” The fulfilling patient stories continued to drive Horst. “There were some real emotional experiences when patients were able to get up and walk, or when they would say they could feel their leg for the first time since the stroke.”

Founded in 2002 by Robert Horst and Kern Bhugra, Tibion Incorporated sold the first Bionic Leg in 2009. The company has sold more than 100 units to hospitals, physical therapy facilities, and nursing facilities. Tibion is now part of AlterG Inc., a company that is revolutionizing modern rehabilitation. The Bionic Leg was the 2005 Grand Prize Winner in the Boomer Business Plan Competition, the 2008 winner of the Silicon Valley Emerging Technology Award for Medical Devices, and the 2010 winner of the Medical Design Excellence Awards competition.

Horst was recognized by ECE as a distinguished alumnus in 1998, when he was technical director of Compaq Tandem Labs and chief technical officer of the ServerNet Business Unit in Cupertino, CA. He is credited with several pioneering contributions in the architecture and fault tolerance fields. Horst is now AlterG’s chief technology officer of robotics, and he continues to lead development on the AlterG Bionic Leg.