Technology: The Boost 1 treadmill is designed to accurately, quickly and comfortably reduce a users effective body weight while they are on a treadmill. It accomplishes this by creating a sealed environment around the users lower body, and increasing the air-pressure inside the chamber. Because the air-pressure inside this chamber is greater than the ambient pressure, a lifting force is experienced across the entire lower body. The Boost 1 accurately controls the pressure within the chamber to exert a specific lift upon the user. A user is able to choose to exercise at anywhere from their full body weight, down to as low as 20% of their body weight, or anywhere in between. Current state of non-defense solution: The Boost 1 was launched in June of 2018. Since that time, over 150 of them have been sold into use. Of these 150, over 15 are with professional sports teams, 60 with NCAA Athletic Programs, and 15 with the Department of Defense. These sales have accounted for over $5m in sales. The product is fully developed in its non-defense solution. Current State of Defense Solution: To date, the US DOD has purchased 17 Boost 1 treadmills for over $500,000. They are installed in physical therapy and training facilities at Eielson AFB, Air Force Academy, Joint Base Pearl Harbor, Camp Lejeune (5 units), Fort Eustis, Fort Belvoir (2), Fort Benning (2), US Naval Academy (2 units), EOB Expeditionary Unit, 162 Airborne. Adaptation Needed: While the Boost 1 is capable of being deployed into the Air Force as currently constructed (as evidenced by over $500k purchased by DOD over the past 18 months), there are a number of changes needed in order to optimize it. Primarily we need to work with current Air-Force users to understand the specific use cases for each respective Boost 1, and work with our performance team to create specific protocols that can be pre-loaded onto the Boost 1. These will let personnel and practitioners choose a rehab protocol, workout or test, and have the Boost 1 automatically take them through. Further, we will create a system where Physical therapists and Athletic Trainers can easily create workouts themselves and assign them to users. We would also like to work with exercise scientists to standardize the Boost to be used for Physical Fitness testing purposes. We feel that this will allow service members dealing with orthopedic injuries or weight issues to be able to take a fitness test in a manner that does not expose them to further injury.
