About us | Gema-Life

Our challenge: “To make compatible a 100% user-friendly electronics package for seniors”.

Viviane Pasqui

A SUCCESSFUL GAMBLE FOR WALK-E

Interview with our CEO, Viviane Pasqui

What were your biggest challenges? GEMA is a Spin-Off of the Institute of Intelligent Systems and Robotics (ISIR) at Sorbonne University. The company was created in 2016 to develop and commercialize Walk-E, a walker and standing robot in close collaboration with geriatricians at Charles Foix Hospital. To meet the urgent needs of dependency, we focused on improving technical assistance for walking to increase the autonomy of seniors and at the same time relieve the medical staff. From the very first exchanges with geriatricians, we understood that the solution for an adapted walker had to be its robotization. So, to make it user-friendly for our seniors, we tried to make this technological robot easy to access and as intuitive as possible: no buttons and no Human-Machine Interface. We bet on trust and 100% intuitiveness! The feedback is incredibly encouraging.

Any new ideas for Walk-E tomorrow? Walk-E is a flexible and scalable platform that will allow us to propose more and more diversified offers to meet the specific needs of professionals, certain pathologies, rehabilitation specialists, etc. Future versions are already under development, the team is working on them with enthusiasm!

Our awards After 10 years of research and several prototypes that allowed us to validate the different functionalities of our robot in the hospital, step by step: verticalization, automatic braking, intuitiveness, GEMA has received several awards (World Innovation Contest, I-Lab Contest). Charles Foix awarded us his grant for the best innovation in the Silver Economy. We have been supported by the BPI and many other partners. 4 patents have been filed as a result of the various technological innovations developed by GEMA. A lot of recognition but above all, our most beautiful reward? Seeing that Walk-E seems to answer perfectly to the expectations of seniors and medical institutions!