Speaker 1 00:04
With information on the latest developments in assistive technology and initiatives, from the studios of 2RPH in Sydney, RPH Australia brings you AbleQuest. Hello, I'm Barbara Sullivan. Every day, especially in nursing homes, people must be fed by caregivers.
Speaker 1 00:30
Many find the experienced conspicuous and frustrating. Feeding yourself is a basic human need. Now there's a device which helps people who are fed by others to take control of their meals, to choose the food, to eat at their own pace and to interact with others while dining.
Speaker 1 00:48
It's the OB feeding device and it's cutting edge robotics. A great option for people living with ALS, brain injury, multiple sclerosis, any condition which limits upper arm function. Elaine Jontek spoke to Rachel Decker from the design company in the US, which designed and markets the product about how it came into production and how it works.
Speaker 1 01:14
She also spoke to Hugh Kingsley from the Brainerie Robotics Store about its availability in Australia on the NDIS.
Speaker 2 01:23
Thank you very much for taking part in this interview, Rachel and Hugh, Aileen and we're doing it over Zooms. We're talking about the OB feeding device, understand it was a family project.
Speaker 3 01:37
Yes, I'd be happy to tell you about how OB came to fruition and the idea actually came from several personal experiences that our CEO and founder, John, had growing up. And John, who's the inventor, is also my brother in full transparency.
Speaker 3 01:52
So there is a bit of a family foundation to the company. And I did have a front row seat to the development of the product as well. And there are several seeds that were planted that led to the idea for OB.
Speaker 3 02:03
The first was that John volunteered in nursing homes in high school, and he had to feed people. So he experienced what it was like to not only feed people, but also experienced how people didn't really enjoy being fed.
Speaker 3 02:17
Our grandfather also had a condition that prevented him from being able to eat on his own towards the end of his life. He was a stoic World War II veteran who did not like to show weakness in front of the family.
Speaker 3 02:29
My grandmother had to feed him, but he really did not enjoy that experience. He'd often sit out of family meals and family holidays, because he didn't want to be seen that way in front of the families.
Speaker 3 02:41
And then the last experience John had was actually in university. In one of his engineering classes, one of his professors introduced the class to a young girl who had arthrogryposis. And she was about 10 years old at the time.
Speaker 3 02:55
And the class actually had the assignment of coming up with some low -tech devices to help her live with more independence. And her number one request was that she wanted to eat with independence. So being about 10 years old, he's getting a little more self -conscious amongst her peers and going to friends' houses and eating at school.
Speaker 3 03:14
And she said that the way that she ate was by putting her face in her plate, and she said that she felt like a dog. And so all of these experiences kind of led John to do some research to realize there was nothing on the market that addressed eating in a modern dignified ways.
Speaker 3 03:33
I know you're probably very familiar with high -tech mobility solutions and communication solutions and vision solutions, but there seemed to be a void in the eating space. John really knew that there was a definite market to help people eat with more dignity and independence.
Speaker 3 03:48
Upon graduating, he decided to go down the path of starting the company and starting to build the device. So then many, many years, but we are currently selling the product in over 30 countries around the world and helping many, many people have more joyful dining experiences.
Speaker 2 04:05
So can you describe how it works in practice, and it's for lots of different kinds of disabilities. So you need some sort of movement to switch it on or...
Speaker 3 04:14
Always really simple and easy to use. It was designed to allow the user to really relax and enjoy their meal. And so the interface is actually very intuitive. But there are two switches. One switch rotates the arm amongst four bowls.
Speaker 3 04:28
And the other switch scoops the food and delivers it to the desired location. So those switches are actually customizable. So based off where the individual has some mobility in their body, they can use a different type of switch.
Speaker 3 04:42
So we have users that operate the device with their feet, with their hips, with their hands, with their shoulders, with their head and even with their eyes. So that interface is customizable, depending on the user's abilities.
Speaker 3 04:55
One switch just rotates and one switch delivers the food. That delivery location can be customizable as well, depending on how someone is sitting in a chair or if they're in a bed. If they want a specific height, that is customizable.
Speaker 3 05:09
The arm wipes the spoon after every bite. And the device also has a patented food capture methodology, which provides the most accurate food capture that is possible. And there's a lot of fun features built into the device.
Speaker 3 05:23
We wanted the device to have some characteristics and personality. And so the device actually bows to the user when it starts and when it turns on and it will shake its head slightly. So our users really laugh and smile and love using the device.
Speaker 3 05:39
We wanted it to be something people were proud of and enjoyed using, not something clunky and industrial and boring.
Speaker 2 05:46
So it's like dining with a friend, is that? Yeah, exactly. And does the, if somebody's in a nursing home, does somebody else then have to put the food into four little containers?
Speaker 3 05:57
Yes. So unfortunately, Obi cannot cook and prepare food yet. So someone does have to prepare the food and put it in the four containers, just like they normally would preparing a meal. And there are some specific ways to prepare the food so that Obi can capture the pieces.
Speaker 3 06:15
So we can't put, you know, pizza in one of the bowls and expect the device to be able to get those pieces. But any solid food can be caught up between the size of a pea and a grape. And then Obi will have no problem picking up those pieces and any soups, stews, yogurts, cereals all work really, really well.
Speaker 3 06:33
Our users have a lot of fun trying different foods and different, you know, combinations of four foods. We send everything from popcorn to pasta dinners to birthday cake and even some wine and some special drinks in there too.
Speaker 2 06:49
Sounds very versatile. So as long as there are more than four things for one meal. So if you have some mince and pasta and a little bit of salad, I suppose chopped up very small.
Speaker 3 07:01
Yes, we only have the four compartments right now, but people often prepare more than one tray of food and they can put some saran wrap over it and put it in the refrigerator, maybe something for snack time, so a caregiver will often prepare more than one meal at one.
Speaker 2 07:16
So, do you need a special training to use it or do you just, does somebody just unwrap the appliance and there you go?
Speaker 3 07:24
No, there's no special training for OB. As I mentioned, OB was designed to be as simple as possible for the users. It's of course complex and its software and details don't tend to let engineers that I say that it's simple, but for the user it is extremely simple and most of our users are able to open the device and start using it within five minutes of receiving it for the first time.
Speaker 3 07:47
We of course have instructions, a quick start guide, there's YouTube videos and we're available if any special training is needed, but it is not required.
Speaker 2 07:55
Obie, that's a really cute name. It sounds like a friend. Does Obie mean anything? Thank you.
Speaker 3 08:00
Yes, so the name OB comes from the word obeisance, which means to bow with respect. We had a lot of ideas for the name for the device, but we wanted it to be something kind of cute and personable, and we wanted it to mean something.
Speaker 3 08:16
So it really means that the device is there to serve and respect the user.
Speaker 2 08:21
We're on radio, I can see you during the interview, but can you describe what it looks like?
Speaker 3 08:27
Yeah, that's a good question and I've never really had to describe it without being able to see it. I understand it's hard to visualize what a feeding device looks like, so I'll do my best. Obi's about the size of a placemat and it weighs about seven pounds or three kilograms.
Speaker 3 08:43
It's easily portable and it has a round base about the size of a large plate. The base is about seven centimeters thick and within that base are four bowl like compartments for food and attached to that base is a really sleek minimalistic robotic arm with a spoon attached and that spoon is attached with a magnet and the arm has six really precise motors that allow for a very human like movement within that arm.
Speaker 3 09:17
The device is very white and it looks very modern, sleek and aesthetically cool. We really wanted it to be something people are proud of and
Speaker 2 09:27
And does OB take no more space than you would on a normal placemat? So if you're dining with friends, you're not going to have a huge machine. It's going to take up half the table.
Speaker 3 09:36
Yeah, exactly. It's just the size of a placemat. We didn't want it to be any larger than a normal meal setting.
Speaker 2 09:42
With me as well as Hugh Kingsley from the Brainerie, just wanted to fill in any gaps with Rachel's from the US. Can you tell us about the availability of OB and will NDIS pay for some of that?
Speaker 4 09:56
Yes, Elaine. I first came across OB maybe 18 months ago. I went and visited their factory, which I was really impressed by the standards, the quality, the whole thing. We've been talking for a while and just recently we joined the OB family.
Speaker 4 10:13
So we're based in Victoria. And yes, OB is now readily available from us. And typically we need an occupational therapist or similar registered practitioner to recommend it and sign the paperwork. And then yes, it would be funded by the NDIS.
Speaker 2 10:33
Right, and I guess if we want to have a look at what OB looks like, apart from Rachel Decker's wonderful description, we can download a video of it. Can we on a website?
Speaker 4 10:43
If you go to www .thebrainerie .com and you put in the search bar, obi, obi, you'll see it on our website. And of course, you can always reach out to us. We're not robots, so even though we sell robotic arms, we can talk to a human being and we'll gladly assist anyone who wants to inquire about it.
Speaker 2 11:11
So you're able to tell us what the cost is?
Speaker 4 11:14
Just off the top of my head, OB in Australia is just under 15 ,000 Australian dollars.
Speaker 2 11:19
Wow, and what will NDIS pay?
Speaker 4 11:23
understanding is that they will pay for all of it, but it has to go through usual Indio's processes. Sometimes we have to put in an argument as to why a person should have their own independence with feeding.
Speaker 4 11:36
But the beautiful thing is it's your device. You have independence and control of in what order you feed yourself. How do you put a price on an independence and quality of life?
Speaker 2 11:48
Because you know if you need peas and then carrots and then meat, you know which order you want the food, whereas your caregiver doesn't.
Speaker 4 11:54
And the pleasure of returning to the same piece of food because you really liked it. You may have had one scoop and gone, oh, I like that. I want another scoop, but this way you've got that freedom of choice.
Speaker 2 12:07
That sounds terrific, so are there any points that we haven't covered?
Speaker 3 12:11
I don't think so. I think I'd just like to remark that there are a lot of benefits of independent eating, and those include everything from physical, psychological, to social benefits. You could imagine yourself not being able to eat yourself, and I assume that you got with friends and enjoy dining for holidays and celebrations, or just by yourself watching TV sometimes, and for millions of people, that just isn't the case.
Speaker 3 12:41
We have users that have taken OB on cruises, on family vacations. It's very portable. You can transport it plane, on a train, in a car, so it can go with you wherever you want to go.
Speaker 2 12:52
Thank you. It sounds great, Rachel, so where are you talking to us from today?
Speaker 3 12:57
I'm talking to you from Jacksonville, Florida. This is where we have our headquarters and we actually manufacture the devices in our own facility. So every single one is hand assembled and inspected here in Florida and shipped out across the world.
Speaker 4 13:12
Make a quick comment that I think is important and Rachel did touch on it. We can set the users up with eye tracking so that they would operate it with as little as one eye by looking at a tablet. So, wow, there's enough.
Speaker 4 13:27
Yeah, it's just amazing how we can empower people.
Speaker 2 13:31
Well it's been wonderful talking to you both today, it's 8pm at night in the States, so sorry that you've had to work late and I hope that there's people that will benefit from OB.
Speaker 3 13:45
I appreciate it.
Speaker 4 13:46
Thank you both for coming together for this.
Speaker 3 13:49
Thank you. Bye -bye.
Speaker 2 13:50
Okay. Thanks Elaine. And that was Rachel Decker who's the Director of Marketing and Business Development at OB and Hugh Kingsley from the Brainerie.
Speaker 1 14:07
You have just been listening to AbleQuest, a program that looks at developments in assistive technology and initiatives. From Elaine Jean -Tek and Barbara Sullivan, thank you for listening and goodbye till next program.
Speaker 1 00:04
With information on the latest developments in assistive technology and initiatives, from the studios of 2RPH in Sydney, RPH Australia brings you AbleQuest. Hello, I'm Barbara Sullivan. Every day, especially in nursing homes, people must be fed by caregivers.
Speaker 1 00:30
Many find the experienced conspicuous and frustrating. Feeding yourself is a basic human need. Now there's a device which helps people who are fed by others to take control of their meals, to choose the food, to eat at their own pace and to interact with others while dining.
Speaker 1 00:48
It's the OB feeding device and it's cutting edge robotics. A great option for people living with ALS, brain injury, multiple sclerosis, any condition which limits upper arm function. Elaine Jontek spoke to Rachel Decker from the design company in the US, which designed and markets the product about how it came into production and how it works.
Speaker 1 01:14
She also spoke to Hugh Kingsley from the Brainerie Robotics Store about its availability in Australia on the NDIS.
Speaker 2 01:23
Thank you very much for taking part in this interview, Rachel and Hugh, Aileen and we're doing it over Zooms. We're talking about the OB feeding device, understand it was a family project.
Speaker 3 01:37
Yes, I'd be happy to tell you about how OB came to fruition and the idea actually came from several personal experiences that our CEO and founder, John, had growing up. And John, who's the inventor, is also my brother in full transparency.
Speaker 3 01:52
So there is a bit of a family foundation to the company. And I did have a front row seat to the development of the product as well. And there are several seeds that were planted that led to the idea for OB.
Speaker 3 02:03
The first was that John volunteered in nursing homes in high school, and he had to feed people. So he experienced what it was like to not only feed people, but also experienced how people didn't really enjoy being fed.
Speaker 3 02:17
Our grandfather also had a condition that prevented him from being able to eat on his own towards the end of his life. He was a stoic World War II veteran who did not like to show weakness in front of the family.
Speaker 3 02:29
My grandmother had to feed him, but he really did not enjoy that experience. He'd often sit out of family meals and family holidays, because he didn't want to be seen that way in front of the families.
Speaker 3 02:41
And then the last experience John had was actually in university. In one of his engineering classes, one of his professors introduced the class to a young girl who had arthrogryposis. And she was about 10 years old at the time.
Speaker 3 02:55
And the class actually had the assignment of coming up with some low -tech devices to help her live with more independence. And her number one request was that she wanted to eat with independence. So being about 10 years old, he's getting a little more self -conscious amongst her peers and going to friends' houses and eating at school.
Speaker 3 03:14
And she said that the way that she ate was by putting her face in her plate, and she said that she felt like a dog. And so all of these experiences kind of led John to do some research to realize there was nothing on the market that addressed eating in a modern dignified ways.
Speaker 3 03:33
I know you're probably very familiar with high -tech mobility solutions and communication solutions and vision solutions, but there seemed to be a void in the eating space. John really knew that there was a definite market to help people eat with more dignity and independence.
Speaker 3 03:48
Upon graduating, he decided to go down the path of starting the company and starting to build the device. So then many, many years, but we are currently selling the product in over 30 countries around the world and helping many, many people have more joyful dining experiences.
Speaker 2 04:05
So can you describe how it works in practice, and it's for lots of different kinds of disabilities. So you need some sort of movement to switch it on or...
Speaker 3 04:14
Always really simple and easy to use. It was designed to allow the user to really relax and enjoy their meal. And so the interface is actually very intuitive. But there are two switches. One switch rotates the arm amongst four bowls.
Speaker 3 04:28
And the other switch scoops the food and delivers it to the desired location. So those switches are actually customizable. So based off where the individual has some mobility in their body, they can use a different type of switch.
Speaker 3 04:42
So we have users that operate the device with their feet, with their hips, with their hands, with their shoulders, with their head and even with their eyes. So that interface is customizable, depending on the user's abilities.
Speaker 3 04:55
One switch just rotates and one switch delivers the food. That delivery location can be customizable as well, depending on how someone is sitting in a chair or if they're in a bed. If they want a specific height, that is customizable.
Speaker 3 05:09
The arm wipes the spoon after every bite. And the device also has a patented food capture methodology, which provides the most accurate food capture that is possible. And there's a lot of fun features built into the device.
Speaker 3 05:23
We wanted the device to have some characteristics and personality. And so the device actually bows to the user when it starts and when it turns on and it will shake its head slightly. So our users really laugh and smile and love using the device.
Speaker 3 05:39
We wanted it to be something people were proud of and enjoyed using, not something clunky and industrial and boring.
Speaker 2 05:46
So it's like dining with a friend, is that? Yeah, exactly. And does the, if somebody's in a nursing home, does somebody else then have to put the food into four little containers?
Speaker 3 05:57
Yes. So unfortunately, Obi cannot cook and prepare food yet. So someone does have to prepare the food and put it in the four containers, just like they normally would preparing a meal. And there are some specific ways to prepare the food so that Obi can capture the pieces.
Speaker 3 06:15
So we can't put, you know, pizza in one of the bowls and expect the device to be able to get those pieces. But any solid food can be caught up between the size of a pea and a grape. And then Obi will have no problem picking up those pieces and any soups, stews, yogurts, cereals all work really, really well.
Speaker 3 06:33
Our users have a lot of fun trying different foods and different, you know, combinations of four foods. We send everything from popcorn to pasta dinners to birthday cake and even some wine and some special drinks in there too.
Speaker 2 06:49
Sounds very versatile. So as long as there are more than four things for one meal. So if you have some mince and pasta and a little bit of salad, I suppose chopped up very small.
Speaker 3 07:01
Yes, we only have the four compartments right now, but people often prepare more than one tray of food and they can put some saran wrap over it and put it in the refrigerator, maybe something for snack time, so a caregiver will often prepare more than one meal at one.
Speaker 2 07:16
So, do you need a special training to use it or do you just, does somebody just unwrap the appliance and there you go?
Speaker 3 07:24
No, there's no special training for OB. As I mentioned, OB was designed to be as simple as possible for the users. It's of course complex and its software and details don't tend to let engineers that I say that it's simple, but for the user it is extremely simple and most of our users are able to open the device and start using it within five minutes of receiving it for the first time.
Speaker 3 07:47
We of course have instructions, a quick start guide, there's YouTube videos and we're available if any special training is needed, but it is not required.
Speaker 2 07:55
Obie, that's a really cute name. It sounds like a friend. Does Obie mean anything? Thank you.
Speaker 3 08:00
Yes, so the name OB comes from the word obeisance, which means to bow with respect. We had a lot of ideas for the name for the device, but we wanted it to be something kind of cute and personable, and we wanted it to mean something.
Speaker 3 08:16
So it really means that the device is there to serve and respect the user.
Speaker 2 08:21
We're on radio, I can see you during the interview, but can you describe what it looks like?
Speaker 3 08:27
Yeah, that's a good question and I've never really had to describe it without being able to see it. I understand it's hard to visualize what a feeding device looks like, so I'll do my best. Obi's about the size of a placemat and it weighs about seven pounds or three kilograms.
Speaker 3 08:43
It's easily portable and it has a round base about the size of a large plate. The base is about seven centimeters thick and within that base are four bowl like compartments for food and attached to that base is a really sleek minimalistic robotic arm with a spoon attached and that spoon is attached with a magnet and the arm has six really precise motors that allow for a very human like movement within that arm.
Speaker 3 09:17
The device is very white and it looks very modern, sleek and aesthetically cool. We really wanted it to be something people are proud of and
Speaker 2 09:27
And does OB take no more space than you would on a normal placemat? So if you're dining with friends, you're not going to have a huge machine. It's going to take up half the table.
Speaker 3 09:36
Yeah, exactly. It's just the size of a placemat. We didn't want it to be any larger than a normal meal setting.
Speaker 2 09:42
With me as well as Hugh Kingsley from the Brainerie, just wanted to fill in any gaps with Rachel's from the US. Can you tell us about the availability of OB and will NDIS pay for some of that?
Speaker 4 09:56
Yes, Elaine. I first came across OB maybe 18 months ago. I went and visited their factory, which I was really impressed by the standards, the quality, the whole thing. We've been talking for a while and just recently we joined the OB family.
Speaker 4 10:13
So we're based in Victoria. And yes, OB is now readily available from us. And typically we need an occupational therapist or similar registered practitioner to recommend it and sign the paperwork. And then yes, it would be funded by the NDIS.
Speaker 2 10:33
Right, and I guess if we want to have a look at what OB looks like, apart from Rachel Decker's wonderful description, we can download a video of it. Can we on a website?
Speaker 4 10:43
If you go to www .thebrainerie .com and you put in the search bar, obi, obi, you'll see it on our website. And of course, you can always reach out to us. We're not robots, so even though we sell robotic arms, we can talk to a human being and we'll gladly assist anyone who wants to inquire about it.
Speaker 2 11:11
So you're able to tell us what the cost is?
Speaker 4 11:14
Just off the top of my head, OB in Australia is just under 15 ,000 Australian dollars.
Speaker 2 11:19
Wow, and what will NDIS pay?
Speaker 4 11:23
understanding is that they will pay for all of it, but it has to go through usual Indio's processes. Sometimes we have to put in an argument as to why a person should have their own independence with feeding.
Speaker 4 11:36
But the beautiful thing is it's your device. You have independence and control of in what order you feed yourself. How do you put a price on an independence and quality of life?
Speaker 2 11:48
Because you know if you need peas and then carrots and then meat, you know which order you want the food, whereas your caregiver doesn't.
Speaker 4 11:54
And the pleasure of returning to the same piece of food because you really liked it. You may have had one scoop and gone, oh, I like that. I want another scoop, but this way you've got that freedom of choice.
Speaker 2 12:07
That sounds terrific, so are there any points that we haven't covered?
Speaker 3 12:11
I don't think so. I think I'd just like to remark that there are a lot of benefits of independent eating, and those include everything from physical, psychological, to social benefits. You could imagine yourself not being able to eat yourself, and I assume that you got with friends and enjoy dining for holidays and celebrations, or just by yourself watching TV sometimes, and for millions of people, that just isn't the case.
Speaker 3 12:41
We have users that have taken OB on cruises, on family vacations. It's very portable. You can transport it plane, on a train, in a car, so it can go with you wherever you want to go.
Speaker 2 12:52
Thank you. It sounds great, Rachel, so where are you talking to us from today?
Speaker 3 12:57
I'm talking to you from Jacksonville, Florida. This is where we have our headquarters and we actually manufacture the devices in our own facility. So every single one is hand assembled and inspected here in Florida and shipped out across the world.
Speaker 4 13:12
Make a quick comment that I think is important and Rachel did touch on it. We can set the users up with eye tracking so that they would operate it with as little as one eye by looking at a tablet. So, wow, there's enough.
Speaker 4 13:27
Yeah, it's just amazing how we can empower people.
Speaker 2 13:31
Well it's been wonderful talking to you both today, it's 8pm at night in the States, so sorry that you've had to work late and I hope that there's people that will benefit from OB.
Speaker 3 13:45
I appreciate it.
Speaker 4 13:46
Thank you both for coming together for this.
Speaker 3 13:49
Thank you. Bye -bye.
Speaker 2 13:50
Okay. Thanks Elaine. And that was Rachel Decker who's the Director of Marketing and Business Development at OB and Hugh Kingsley from the Brainerie.
Speaker 1 14:07
You have just been listening to AbleQuest, a program that looks at developments in assistive technology and initiatives. From Elaine Jean -Tek and Barbara Sullivan, thank you for listening and goodbye till next program.
