In my shoes

Monday, June 27, 2011

Blog entry by Danielle Follett Chard, The Leonardo's marketing specialist.


Last Wednesday was an exciting night for The Leonardo. We hosted another prototyping event at The Leo Garage and got some great feedback about another one of our opening exhibits. This time we explored the Innovation Gallery, a section of The Leo dedicated solely to exploring what Utah people and companies are doing to develop life-changing, ground-breaking or history-making inventions and innovation.

Photo by Danielle Follett Chard

We're excited to open the space by partnering with Otto Bock, a worldwide health care company with strong ties to Utah and Salt Lake City. Otto Bock's engineers develop and create prosthetics for amputees, especially amputees who are still active and require legs that can handle lots of movement over varying terrain. The employees at Otto Bock really dig in to understand individual needs and build innovative solutions.

A guest experiences what is is like to walk on prosthetic feet. Photo by Kent Miles.

A group of amputees that have worked closely with Otto Bock engineers to develop better prosthetics were also at the event. They were able to answer questions, describe their experiences, and tell how the creation of new technology has changed their day-to-day lives. The interplay between this technology and the people it affects is near the core of The Leonardo. By examining the human impact of technology, the exhibit considers the human face and personal stories that add depth to new developments in the field of prosthetics.

Guests were able to try on old prosthetic solutions and try simple tasks like peeling a banana or tying shoes to understand the struggles amputees face without modern technology. Photo by Kent Miles.

We love to see people interacting and enjoying our exhibits and taking our own exploration a step further. The Leo experience will always evolve through our visitors, so maybe the most fun is learning from you! If you missed this event, but would like to stay up to date on what The Leonardo is developing, it's not too late to join the official prototyping team! Send the following info to Maria Kontgis at mkontgis@theleonardo.org:

First and last name
Age (promise we won't tell)
City where you reside
Email and phone number
Why you're interested in helping prototype
Why you think you could help us get better
Availability: mornings, afternoons, or evenings

And for those readers who were at the event, keep a close eye on our Facebook page. We'll be uploading an album with a lot more pictures this week, so be sure to watch and tag yourself!


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Labels: events, exhibits, innovation, prototype

Posted by The Leonardo at 6/27/2011 03:35:00 PM 0 comments