CHICAGO — For the Rehabilitation Engineering and Assistive Technology Society of North America’s (RESNA) 2025 conference, it would be hard to imagine a more beautiful location than the city’s Riverwalk, where the Chicago River meets Lake Michigan.
For the May 12-16 conference at the Sheraton Grand Chicago Riverwalk, RESNA members had company. The meeting was part of RehabWeek 2025, which brought seven additional societies to Chicago. The International Consortium on Rehabilitation Robotics, the International Functional Electrical Stimulation Society, the International Industry Society in Advanced Rehabilitation Technology, the International Society for Virtual Rehabilitation, the American Congress of Rehabilitation Medicine, MotusAcademy, and Masterclass in Neurotechnology were co-located with the RESNA conference this year. Attendees came together for keynote sessions, exhibit hall hours, and lunch and coffee breaks, but they were also free to attend any RehabWeek educational sessions.
With thanks to RESNA, and Executive Director Andrea Van Hook in particular, here are my notes from an intriguing and inspiring few days in Chicago.
Seating and wheeled mobility among engineering sessions
This was an engineering-centric event. Quantum Rehab was the only wheelchair manufacturer in the expo hall, though Matia Mobility (TEK RMD stander) and Partners in Medicine (Kinova JACO robotic arm) were among the other exhibitors.
There were plenty of seating-themed posters and educational presentations, but in Chicago, those presentations had an engineering flavor.
Jonathan Duvall and his snow plow robot
For example, Jonathan Duvall, Ph.D., and Jorge Candiotti, Ph.D., both from the Human Engineering Research Laboratories, University of Pittsburgh/U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, presented “How to Build a Simple Robot,” which explained robotic basics, from microcontrollers (acting as robots’ brains) to motors, motor controllers, power supplies, and user interfaces.
Duvall demonstrated a snow plow he built using the power base from one of his old power wheelchairs. The power chair’s elevating legrest was repurposed as a snow plow; the robot cost Duvall about $500 to build, excluding that recycled power base.
Early Intervention PWC
David Savage, ATP/SMS, RET, Children’s Specialized Hospital, Mountainside, N.J., demonstrated an Early Intervention Power Wheelchair as part of the 2025 RehabWeek Developers’ Showcase. “Volitional movement in early development promotes cognitive perceptual development,” the entry said. “Children with profound mental and physical disabilities are missing milestones due to their inability to move themselves through space. These same children often require supportive seating to maintain any position against gravity and have limited fine motor ability.”
The pediatric power mobility system on display combined a child’s existing seating — Sunrise Medical’s Kid-Kart seating, as one example — with a power base also adapted to carry a ventilator and oxygen equipment. The sample system was equipped with both switch and proportional controls to demonstrate that it could meet young children where they are. The system is also transportable, thanks to a compact power base and seating that is easily and quickly removable.
The Early Intervention Power Wheelchair won the Developers’ Showcase Audience Favorite Award, as voted on by attendees.
The conference was international in scope
Sujatha Srinivasan
RESNA’s keynote session took place the morning of Wednesday, May 14. RESNA President-Elect Rita Stanley introduced Sujatha Srinivasan, Ph.D., professor in the department of mechanical engineering and head of the TTK Center for Rehabilitation Research and Device Development (R2D2) and the National Center for Assistive Health Technologies (NCAHT-IITM) at the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras, India.
Srinivasan spoke on “Engineering for Equity: Transformative Innovations in Assistive and Rehab Technology.”
In explaining that there are 30 million people in India with mobility-related disabilities, and that only one in 10 people worldwide have access to the assistive technology they need, according to the World Health Organization, Srinivasan noted the challenges in matching people to technology that would optimally support them.
“Too-simple” technology — donated standard manual wheelchairs, as one example — is often abandoned because it’s not functional enough for the recipients or incompatible with users’ environments. Technology that’s too high end is often too expensive to be attainable and therefore remains confined to the academic arena.
The middle ground between those two planes is where technology needs to be developed, Srinivasan said. Technology that’s not too simple or too high end needs instead to be affordable, functional, and of high quality.
Among the assistive technology that Srinivasan has been involved in creating are the manual Superstand mechanical stander, and the Arise standing wheelchair, both of which require only human power to operate. The Arise wheelchair costs approximately $500 to manufacture, Srinivasan added.
Srinivasan also discussed the Neofly self-propelled wheelchair; the Neobolt power-assist system that attaches to the front of wheelchairs; and the NeoStand powered standing wheelchair, all from startup company Neomotion.
Srinivasan’s presentation discussed seating and wheeled mobility challenges on a global scale and provided a funding perspective outside of North America, as well.
The functionality of low tech and high tech
MouthPad
The expo was dominated by exoskeletons, robotics, and other high-tech products.
One example: MouthPad, a touchpad custom built for every user. The device is 3D printed using dental resin following a scan of the user’s mouth. Worn on the roof of the mouth, MouthPad translates head, mouth and tongue movements into “seamless cursor control and clicks” that can control phones, computers and tablets — but not power chairs, yet, due to wheelchair regulations in the United States. The device connects to electronic devices via Bluetooth and needs no software. Once inside the mouth, MouthPad is so unobtrusive that the user can carry on conversations without those around them being aware of the device.
Dog treat dispenser
But there were low-tech examples in the expo, as well. One attendee favorite in the Developers’ Showcase was a cylindrical dispenser that can be attached to a wheelchair and releases dogs treats at the single push of a lever. Because it doesn’t require hand dexterity, the device can be easily operated by wheelchair riders with limited hand function, thus making it possible for more people to bond with their pups.
And a group of college freshmen entered their adaptive knitting device in the Developers’ Showcase. Designed for knitting fans experiencing limited finger dexterity due to conditions such as arthritis, these gloves enable their wearers to knit via palm movements.
My kind of town (and show), Chicago is
I’m thankful to RESNA and RehabWeek for showing me assistive technology in a broader context.
This adaptive knitting device was created by college freshmen.
My focus on Complex Rehab Technology is sometimes myopic, focused on function and medical necessity. Undeniably, those are important. But at RehabWeek, I also saw that assistive technology can make us more fully human, better able to participate. Happier. More fulfilled.
At its best, assistive technology integrates so seamlessly and works so well that we largely forget about it. As Dr. Srinivasan asked, how many of us wear custom-made prescription glasses without thinking of ourselves as “disabled” for using them?
That’s assistive technology at its best. That’s what I’ll remember from Chicago.
