Issue link: https://industrialengineer.epubxp.com/i/777540
February 2017 | ISE Magazine 35 regardless of whether they were in a wheelchair or not." In 2007, Eder entered his thesis in the student category for Industrial Designers Society of America's International Design Excellence Awards (IDEA) – a competition for corporations, design firms and students – and won best in show and people's choice. The next year Apple would win best in show for the iPhone. "It rocked my world," Eder remembered. "I started travel- ing around the country to share this idea and felt guilty be- cause people were asking me where to get it, but I didn't have anything to actually deliver." Eder used his recognition to push his concept further, partnering with the University of Cincinnati and investors at CincyTech and Proctor & Gamble (P&G;) to build early- stage prototypes of his design. Throughout the process, he developed various solutions to issues people with limited mobility faced. "They ranged from user stability while exercising to a lot of dexterity issues, whether it's adjusting the equipment to get in the right position, changing the weight [or] how you hold the grips if you don't have strong dexterity," Eder said. Eder also knew it was important to position the machine so everybody – no matter their size or whether they were sitting in a wheelchair or standing – could access it. He examined every element and interaction of the equipment, looking at how engineering design could improve things. Through this process, he patented a pulley configuration, weight selection dial and adjustable handles. After Eder made a prototype that had all of the individual innovations with P&G;, he worked to raise more than $500 million from different groups in the Ohio area. At the same time, Eder was working at Priority Designs, an industrial de- sign consulting firm based in Columbus, Ohio. He ended up hiring the company to develop the first Access Strength mod- el, giving birth to IncludeFitness. To shop the machine in the market, Eder had a custom showroom built to resemble a mobile gym. "So we took it on this tour really to validate the function and feel of the machine and everybody loved it. But around 2013 people started talking about digital health, the Quanti- fied Self and the power of data, and I'm realizing we may have the opportunity to do something bigger [than address] physi- cal ease-of-use," Eder said. He then floated the concept of integrating a cloud-based system that enabled users to download and browse through various workouts and exercises or create their own and record high-fidelity data in the background. "People's eyes got really big. … So we went out and raised more money to develop that as well," Eder said. Eder and his team developed cloud software that captures high-fidelity data through sensor technology. The IFCloud became the epicenter of IncludeFitness, and Access Strength became a conduit to feed the data into the cloud. "The [information] we collect through the sensors gives us a tremendous amount of data at our fingertips and can provide insights on an individual basis," Eder said. The data can reveal how a user is responding to his or her workout or how a whole demographic obtains a certain out- come. "We realized as we were doing this that we have a big value proposition in the way we deliver care, whether that's in the healthcare networks, community centers [or] universities," Ryan Eder (left) works with his team to design individual prototypes in the research and development stage.