UA Start-Up Brings Health Device Concept to Friday’s Launchpad Competition

TUSCALOOSA, Ala.  — A University of Alabama start-up company developing a low-cost device for checking both muscle health and nerve cells will compete Friday in a business competition.

The UA team, 2B-Electronic, was earlier selected, along with nine other start-ups, to advance in the multi-session event and will compete for a share of up to $300,000 in award money.

Teams chosen Friday in the Alabama Launchpad Start-up Competition, to be held at Evonik Industries, 750 Lakeshore Parkway, Birmingham, beginning at 9 a.m., will compete in the event’s Sept. 25 finale.

The UA team’s leader is Brandt Hendricks, a UA alumnus who recently earned a degree in kinesiology. Dr. Patrick LeClair, associate professor of physics, is also a member of the team competing in Launchpad.

The competition, organized by the Economic Development Partnership of Alabama, is geared to promote, reward and increase the pipeline of high-growth, innovative ventures that have the potential to create and keep jobs in Alabama, according to EDPA.

The UA team recently constructed a low-cost EMG, or electromyography, device. This versatile circuit can detect, amplify and interpret muscles’ electrical signals, the UA researchers said.  It can also serve as a heart-rate monitor and shows promise as an EKG instrument.

Although still under development, the instrument can, in connection with a microcontroller, take the body’s electrical signals and produce an action. In a proof-of-concept test, the researchers used their design to trigger arm movement in a robot by flexing muscles in the wrist and forearm of a person linked to the devices.

The hope is one day such technology could later be implemented into a full body suit to give a person with limited mobility the possibility of performing a more complex task by a quick flex of the arm.

2B-Electronic is one of more than a dozen start-up companies that receive early assistance and mentoring through the Office for Technology Transfer  and the Alabama Innovation and Mentoring of Entrepreneurs center within the UA Office of the Vice President for Research.

The Launchpad competition is financed by business, the state of Alabama and seven universities, including UA.