ABBY is a new robotic smart wheelchair platform with machine vision & IoT selling for 1/2 the price of anything comparable. Production is started with 1/3 of our first year target pre-sold.
Current Status
In just a few weeks over the summer, a few hundred dollars spent on Facebook ads generated over 1000 email subscribers, tons of social engagements & website visits, and most importantly, dozens of paid pre-orders, affirming our belief that customers are hungry for new and better products AND are willing to pay out of pocket for ABBY.
Problem or Opportunity
Manual wheelchairs are very hard to use independently and motorized wheelchairs are heavy, expensive, outdated and in very short supply. Despite $7B in wheelchair sales last year, sadly, most of the 80 million people with disabilities who MUST HAVE a wheelchair half a billion elderly & others who CAN USE powered wheelchairs, never will; at least not with annual industry output of only 6.5M manual chairs and only 1M heavy, expensive, and outdated powered chairs. And that unfortunately means that powered wheelchairs are only available to the wealthy and the well-insured.
Solution (product or service)
The problem is industry’s CHOICE to underproduce and overprice “medical devices”, sold to third-party insurance payors, who ration them to a tiny fraction of the addressable market. So we do the exact opposite - use the latest technology found in every other category of Electric Vehicle, and we sell PERSONAL electric vehicles not medical devices – DIRECTLY to CUSTOMERS not only to INSURANCE for less than $3000 – and to lower barriers even further, we have a product purchase crowdfunding option and plan to offer $100/mo. pay as you go financing.
Business model
Direct online B2C sales and DIY self-service based on the design for ABBY to assemble & disassemble in minutes without tools with the main motors, front caster wheels, anti-tip wheels, footrests & joystick controller all being quick-release components that attach/detach with a button press or plug/unplug operation. End-users or family members/caregivers can simply replace express delivered parts.
