University of Utah mechanical engineering professor Tommaso Lenzi has combined his background in robotics with physical medicine and rehabilitation in his lab where they are focused on developing technologies that help people move and live more independently.

“We're particularly interested in developing technologies that are robots that you can wear,” Lenzi said. “The idea is that these technologies can help you walk and operate independently even if you had some trauma or injury like amputation, stroke or even a spinal cord injury.”

Lenzi’s inventions haven’t gone unnoticed. His lab’s Utah Bionic Leg was recently named as one of Time’s 200 best inventions of 2023. “Mobility is one of the biggest societal challenges that we are currently confronting and will continue to face in the future.”

Inventions like the Utah Bionic Leg are key for those who have issues walking, climbing steps or dealing with small obstacles. For example, almost 800,000 Americans have a stroke per year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and many stroke survivors then develop a physical disability that impacts mobility. “We're doing a much better job dealing with stroke from a medical standpoint, but there is a much bigger need for rehabilitation,” Lenzi said.

Add to that an increase in the incidence of diabetes and amputation resulting from the disease, and the number of people who could face mobility issues in the future is staggering. “We look at all these statistics, and it really points to the fact that there's a huge need for technologies that can help people stay active, regain mobility and ultimately, regain their independence,” Lenzi said.

One of his main goals is to translate his research and inventions out of the academic lab and into the real world, and with that goal, he’s had to learn a lot about patents, interacting with companies, the importance of NDAs and more.

“We're at the stage where pretty much all of our work and scientific papers are also inventions,” Lenzi said, because his research both answers scientific questions and has value outside the scientific community. This means he, along with the Technology Licensing Office, have submitted numerous provisional patent applications to ensure his ideas are protected before he presents or shares them with the public.

“This process of the provisional application is interesting, because it gives us enough time for this invention to really mature and understand if it's a direction we believe we should be pursuing or not,” Lenzi said. “If we do want to pursue that direction, then we know our intellectual property is protected.”

Learn more about the Technology Licensing Office’s patent process

Focusing on the translational aspect of his research has expanded Lenzi’s bubble outside of the academic lab. “There's a lot more outside of our small bubble of academia, and so engaging with the tech transfer office, engaging with industry, and even sometimes just going out at conferences and conventions that are not scientific and more industry, technology or development focused can be eye opening.”

He's also come to appreciate the benefits of licensing a technology to an existing company, rather than forming a startup. These existing companies already have the infrastructure in place for a technology to move from prototype to production. Lenzi licensed one technology to a global leader in prosthetics that in turn formed a co-development agreement, allowing him to continue developing the technologies in his lab with the company’s support and funding.

“It's not like you just have to let your baby go. You can keep having a say on it and having an impact on how this technology is going to be developed,” Lenzi said. “There are mutual benefits because that could provide funding for your lab, which helps your academic career so it's mutually beneficial.”