EMU licenses out wireless prosthetic tech to College Park Industries

Not all bio-technology advances in Michigan originate at the University of Michigan. One Eastern Michigan University professor has licensed his wireless sensor technology to a Frasher-based company. The technology is called iPecs (Intelligent Prosthetic Endo-Skeletal Component) and is a wireless device that measures stress on artificial limbs. The sensor measures a patient's gait to determine what is happening to them and their prosthetic device while walking. "We're always trying to measure things that are going on," says Frank Joseph Fedel, assistant professor of orthotics and prosthetics at Eastern Michigan University and one of the co-invetors of iPecs. "What is happening to this person while they're walking?" Fedel licensed the technology to College Park Industries, which has been designing and manufacturing prosthetic feet for the worldwide market since 1988. Fedel has created his own start-ups before and dedicated more than a year of his life solely to getting them off the ground. He knew this would be more complicated and decided licensing it out made more sense than trying to go it alone. "Our feet are complicated," Fedel says. "If you're going to make something that replicates it it's going to be complicated." Source: Frank Joseph Fedel, assistant professor of orthotics and prosthetics at Eastern Michigan University Writer: Jon Zemke Read more about Metro Detroit's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at SEMichiganStartup.com.