Produced by a consumer robotics company that calls itself “Desin,” Obi was a winner in the 54th annual R&D 100 awards, arranged by R&D magazine, in the awards’ “mechanical and materials” category.
“Obi’s key functionality is a robotic arm that can select virtually any properly sized food from one of four compartments and deliver it to a position where the diner can eat from the spoon,” said the company in a press release. “The pace and selection of each bite is controlled by the user. Sophisticated programming collects a spoonful in a graceful manner that mimics a person’s instinctive use of silverware.”
Jon Dekar, a UD graduate and the company’s president and co-founder, said Gem City Engineering — near Desin’s Dayton offices at the Entrepreneurs Center in the Tech Town business park — is beginning to produce the robots.
Powered by a rechargeable battery, Desin says its Obi holds enough energy to serve four to six meals on a single charge. “Obi also fits within the confines of a dinner placemat, operates quietly and can be carried with ease like a laptop computer,” the company said in a release.
Desin says it is offering trials of Obi, along with direct-to-customer in-house rental and leasing options to make the device — currently with a retail price of $4,500 — more accessible to users without working through a third party health care equipment or finance organization.
Purchase, lease and rental information are available at www.meetobi.com.
Obi was also named a finalist in the 2016 International Design Excellence Awards earlier this year.
Six-year-old Desin is based in Bloomfield Hills, Mich. with operations in Michigan and Ohio. The company is privately-held and is funded by individual and institutional investors.
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