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Category: News
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Julian’s manufacturing background to help accelerate Centaur’s route to market
A first-hand experience of a loved one losing their mobility was one of the reasons Julian Turner joined Centaur Robotics.
Like many of his colleagues, he was dismayed at the lack of choice for those with limited mobility. It was the Centaur that stood out as the chair that would most help his father, who struggled to walk short distances after he hit his head in a fall.
And Julian’s manufacturing background in the aviation, automotive and autonomous vehicle industries made him the natural choice to help bring the Centaur to market.
Automotive and aviation contacts
“I was really excited by the innovation at Centaur Robotics,” said Julian, who is the company’s chief technology officer. “The Centaur is a fantastic piece of technology and I love seeing people’s reaction to it.”
His experience and contacts in the niche world of automotive and aviation providers, which supply advanced technology across the globe, particularly his work in the UK, the USA, the Middle East and North Africa and China, will help accelerate the Centaur’s route to market.
Working for a UK company, he also helped design, develop, manufacture and certify several autonomous vehicles to support people with mobility and sight issues.
Julian has worked extensively with the RNIB and the Beacon Centre for the Blind and the award-winning ‘Georgie’ phone app, which helps visually impaired people get the most out of a smart phone.
He also worked with the 2012 Paralympic teams at the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park and has a background in artificial intelligence, including a partnership with world leading experts, which include the father of AI Dr Jurgen Schmidhuber.
Eric Kihlstrom, Centaur Robotics’ CEO, said: “Julian’s background with companies like Boeing and Mott MacDonald as well as his recent work in AI will be extremely helpful to us.”
Quality and perfect fit for customers
In the short term, Julian is coordinating both the hardware and software development in the Centaur’s run to market, ensuring that it is built to the best possible quality and is a perfect fit for customers.
This will also include compliance with international build and design standards as well as airport regulations for the version of the Centaur which will revolutionise the travel experience for those with limited mobility.
Julian said: “I got increasingly frustrated at how poor all the wheelchairs are. With my Dad I can see that the Centaur will give him more freedom and independence.”
He was also impressed with the control system – a simple user-friendly joystick – and the innovative lifting chair.
Making a difference
“I also love the look and feel, because to me, it’s a bit like an Apple iPhone. It’s a futuristic looking, great bit of kit. I think the Centaur is going to have a big impact on people’s lives and it’s also got a huge amount of potential to disrupt the wheelchair market.
“It’s designed to be put together quickly and to be really user friendly and we’ve designed it to be profitable. So, from an investment and scale-up perspective, I think Centaur Robotics is a really good company to get involved with.”
Julian added: “But for me, if we can make a difference to even one person’s life there’s more joy in that than in anything else.”
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DAI award will help Centaur users ‘age-in-place’
Centaur Robotics is working with the Design Age Institute to optimise the control system of its ground-breaking chair for older users. The research will lead to better and more intuitive controls of the Centaur, which is currently operated by a joystick at the end of one of the armrests. The institute’s Pathfinder Innovation Programme award will help develop the ‘human machine interface’ of the Centaur, taking into account the cognitive and physical needs of older adults.
Eric Kihlstrom, Chairman of Centaur Robotics, said: “Mobility is a major barrier to older people staying engaged in the community. By overcoming mobility problems, the Centaur helps people stay connected and engaged in their communities. It’s a simple but beautiful solution to a problem which affects millions of people in the UK.”
This is the second award for Centaur Robotics from the Design Age Institute. The award will help develop the Centaur so that older users can age-in-place for longer.
The Mobility Pathfinder Innovation Programme is supported by the UK Research and Innovation Programme Healthy Ageing Challenge. It is delivered by Innovate UK and the Economic and Social Research Council and invited applicants from across the UK to apply for up to £70k in funding for personal mobility solutions that can be supported towards market by investment in good design.
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Baroness Tanni Grey-Thompson on The Centaur
The Centaur – ‘a beautiful looking product’
Record-breaking Paralympian and mobility campaigner Baroness Tanni Grey-Thompson is an ambassador for Centaur Robotics. She saw the machine in action.
“It was great seeing the Centaur. To see it moving was absolutely fantastic. The manoeuvrability was amazing. Being able to turn in its own footprint… the balance, is incredibly important. People will feel safe in it.”
‘Freedom to do what you want’
She described the Centaur as beautiful. “People don’t want to feel like the chair is the biggest part of them. They want to feel that the chair is actually something that is around them. And not being able to see much of it is really important for how people feel about their mobility.
“I think what the Centaur offer is a really beautiful looking product that people feel comfortable with, are happy to sit in and use,” she said. “It doesn’t feel like an ugly mobility product, it feels like something that’s beautifully designed.”
“The Centaur gives you the freedom to do what you want, when you want, in your own environment, not be reliant on other people. It gives you something really powerful and empowering.”
Ageing population
Tanni said the Centaur could be something people use all the time – or just some of the time.
“We have an ageing population and people need to get around in different ways. It’s really important that they have equipment that suits them and enables them to have the freedom that they choose.
“It’s only when you see it in operation do you understand the freedom it can give people.”
The Centaur is designed and developed by Centaur Robotics, a company which aims to change attitudes towards mobility impairment by designing beautiful, desirable products.
