When Owen Kent and Todd Roberts discovered they were roommates at UC Berkeley, they had no idea their friendship would blossom into a company dedicated to transforming lives. Their serendipitous meeting has led to the creation of Assistive Technology Development (ATDev), a company bringing hope and independence to people facing mobility challenges through innovative robotics and artificial intelligence.

Kent, a lifelong wheelchair user with muscular dystrophy, brings invaluable personal perspective to their mission. "I've been a wheelchair user my whole life," he shares warmly. "It's a necessity rather than invention." When he discovered his roommate Roberts was studying exoskeleton design and mechanical engineering, they realized they shared a profound passion for building assistive technology that could genuinely help people.

Their flagship product, Reflex, represents a beautiful marriage of compassion and innovation. This lightweight wearable robot, weighing less than five pounds, straps onto users' legs to provide orthopedic knee rehabilitation. What makes it special is its ability to offer consistent, guided exercises with remote monitoring—extending the benefits of physical therapy far beyond traditional clinic sessions.

"This isn't a tool to replace physical therapists; this is a tool to make them 10x more effective," Kent emphasizes with enthusiasm. It's a philosophy that underscores their entire approach: technology that empowers rather than replaces human care.

The company's journey has been marked by exciting milestones and strong support. Starting from a class project, they've secured research funding from the National Science Foundation and National Institutes of Health. In 2022, UC Berkeley's Skydeck program believed in their vision with a $200,000 investment, followed by additional venture capital funding that helped bring Reflex to its U.S. launch in 2025.

Perhaps most thrilling is ATDev's involvement in the Robotic Assistive Mobility and Manipulation Platform (RAMMP) program, which received up to $41 million in funding from the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health. This ambitious initiative aims to create open-source robotic technologies that help people with disabilities live more independently—a mission that resonates deeply with ATDev's values.

The company has built impressive partnerships with NVIDIA, Amazon Web Services, and leading universities including Carnegie Mellon, Cornell, and Purdue. But what truly sets ATDev apart is its commitment to keeping end users at the heart of everything they do.

"We've done probably over 200 customer interviews of people that use wheelchairs," Kent explains proudly. "Our vision for this company is to really have the end users have an active seat at the table." They're even planning to employ people with disabilities as remote support technicians, ensuring that real-world experience shapes their technology.

As Kent poignantly notes, many powered wheelchair users rely on decades-old technology. "It's been so frustrating for me to see a $50 robotics kit on Amazon that has better technology than my $40,000 wheelchair," he says. ATDev is determined to change that reality.

With one team bringing Reflex to market and another developing an advanced robotic wheelchair, ATDev is proving that when innovation meets empathy, the possibilities for improving lives are truly boundless.