Tim Balz
Appearances
Lead With AI
AI-Powered Cushions That Heal: How Kalogon Is Redefining Mobility and Comfort
That's a great question. So if you're someone who utilizes a wheelchair, ask your local ATP to try it. We've got demos all around the country where you can go sit and experience our technology firsthand. That's probably the best way to do it right now. There are, we don't have any direct to consumer products yet just because of the different regulated markets we work in.
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AI-Powered Cushions That Heal: How Kalogon Is Redefining Mobility and Comfort
But that's something we're working towards. Hopefully soon you'll all be able to say, go fly on this airline and then you'll be able to experience our technology.
Lead With AI
AI-Powered Cushions That Heal: How Kalogon Is Redefining Mobility and Comfort
Yeah, so we have a huge number of channel partners, just about every major dealer in the country. And 99% of products for people with disabilities in the assistive technology space go through a dealer that's likely already distributing our products.
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AI-Powered Cushions That Heal: How Kalogon Is Redefining Mobility and Comfort
So yeah, so there's tons of companies here. And ATP stands for Assistive Technology Professional. There's a website where you can actually look up all the ATPs in your area as well through what's called RESNA, R-E-S-N-A.
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AI-Powered Cushions That Heal: How Kalogon Is Redefining Mobility and Comfort
Yeah, they can also hit our contact form and we can connect them directly with dealers that we work with in their area. If they already have an ATP they love using, they can reach out to them and reach out to us. So we have a contact form. We've got a phone number that you can call and we'd be happy to help educate you and get you a chance to experience the technology for yourself.
Lead With AI
AI-Powered Cushions That Heal: How Kalogon Is Redefining Mobility and Comfort
Look at that segue. So yeah, we... We are quite responsive on both our phone lines And through our contact us form, you're typically gonna get a response in 24 hours or less. But yeah, the cool thing too is we are physically here in Melbourne, Florida. We do almost all of our manufacturing here. Literally we manufacture the product one wall away from where I'm sitting.
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AI-Powered Cushions That Heal: How Kalogon Is Redefining Mobility and Comfort
I'm doing wonderful. How are you doing?
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AI-Powered Cushions That Heal: How Kalogon Is Redefining Mobility and Comfort
Our engineers are also on the other side of the wall, building the technology and working with production to ensure that we're making the greatest products possible. So if you're interested and you happen in Melbourne, Florida, let us know. And I might get to say hi myself.
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AI-Powered Cushions That Heal: How Kalogon Is Redefining Mobility and Comfort
Yeah. So it's www.caligon.com. And we're typically either like at Caligon or at Caligon official on almost all the social medias.
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AI-Powered Cushions That Heal: How Kalogon Is Redefining Mobility and Comfort
K-A-L-O-G-O-N.
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AI-Powered Cushions That Heal: How Kalogon Is Redefining Mobility and Comfort
So I look at AI in a very interesting way here. I don't know which it'll be, but either AI is going to be a great equalizer or it's going to go the other direction. And I think It really all depends on if we implement it thoughtfully.
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AI-Powered Cushions That Heal: How Kalogon Is Redefining Mobility and Comfort
Because in our case, AI is making it so that we can take these populations that capitalism wouldn't have ever been able to justify us making a custom algorithm for every single person. That just wouldn't be feasible.
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AI-Powered Cushions That Heal: How Kalogon Is Redefining Mobility and Comfort
Let's do it.
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AI-Powered Cushions That Heal: How Kalogon Is Redefining Mobility and Comfort
But now we can. And so that's something where I think it is actually able to empower, you know, these underserved populations. I think the same thing for Africa. We can bring the cost down of different technologies and bring the access to those technologies and access to information. That's the fastest way to pull people out of poverty. And so if we do.
Lead With AI
AI-Powered Cushions That Heal: How Kalogon Is Redefining Mobility and Comfort
If we manage AI appropriately and how we build it out, I think it will be absolutely world-changing in a very positive way for underserved populations. But I think if we do it incorrectly, it's probably going to widen that gap. I'm an optimist, so I think it's going to make the world better.
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AI-Powered Cushions That Heal: How Kalogon Is Redefining Mobility and Comfort
Yeah, so myself, I'm a mechanical engineer. I've been working for over 15 years to serve people with disabilities, starting with a nonprofit that I founded. And I'm all about bringing the best of technology to everyone.
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AI-Powered Cushions That Heal: How Kalogon Is Redefining Mobility and Comfort
Absolutely. And we're going to keep working to do our best to help influence that outcome.
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AI-Powered Cushions That Heal: How Kalogon Is Redefining Mobility and Comfort
Yeah, so I run a small nonprofit that's based out of Indiana called Freedom Chairs. So we're not as big as we used to be just because I've spent a lot of time obviously running Caligon. But we'll typically do four to five wheelchairs a year. We'll donate at least. I'll go up to Indiana. I'll refurbish them, get them ready. And then as the needs come in, I'll coordinate to get people wheelchairs.
Lead With AI
AI-Powered Cushions That Heal: How Kalogon Is Redefining Mobility and Comfort
So if you're in and around Indiana, specifically like the Indianapolis, Decatur area, and you do need a wheelchair, feel free to reach out and we'll see what we can do to help you out.
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AI-Powered Cushions That Heal: How Kalogon Is Redefining Mobility and Comfort
I think the way we talk about AI makes it feel overrated. But I think that's the other thing is I think it's also underrated, but not in the ways we talk about it. So that's a difficult answer. But I'd say the way people talk about AI makes it overrated. But the way it's leveraged is probably underrated. We don't realize how much it's actually going to change yet.
Lead With AI
AI-Powered Cushions That Heal: How Kalogon Is Redefining Mobility and Comfort
Oh, I would say it's something different. I would say the underhyped is that the individuality we're going to be able to get. I think it really is the how it's going to be able to level the playing field and ensure that people have custom solutions to them, not the solutions that fit the average masses of society.
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AI-Powered Cushions That Heal: How Kalogon Is Redefining Mobility and Comfort
This is a... This is a tough one. On the future, I feel like there's so many... For me, if you're looking at entrepreneurship, there's so many great books. But if you're looking at specifically on the future, I think...
Lead With AI
AI-Powered Cushions That Heal: How Kalogon Is Redefining Mobility and Comfort
I'll do my most recent read. Okay. I think on the future, actually, it would be The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell because that's understanding how major shifts in society happen. I think if you understand that, that's huge. A recent really interesting book I read was recommended by a friend of mine called The Third Door. So for any entrepreneur types-
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AI-Powered Cushions That Heal: How Kalogon Is Redefining Mobility and Comfort
It's one that I had, it's my first time ever being recommended it. And it was a pretty interesting and entertaining book.
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AI-Powered Cushions That Heal: How Kalogon Is Redefining Mobility and Comfort
I, this is rapid fire, but I'm too thoughtful on these.
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AI-Powered Cushions That Heal: How Kalogon Is Redefining Mobility and Comfort
I truly believe self-driving cars are going to happen within the next five to eight years. And where I'm excited about that is for people like my grandparents or people who aren't able to drive. I think the access that's going to bring to populations that don't have the freedom to travel today, I think that's going to absolutely change the world way more than...
Lead With AI
AI-Powered Cushions That Heal: How Kalogon Is Redefining Mobility and Comfort
you know, people getting a couple more minutes back to be able to, you know, pop on the laptop or take a nap. I don't really care about that. I care about the access it's going to bring to people that today don't have access.
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AI-Powered Cushions That Heal: How Kalogon Is Redefining Mobility and Comfort
So I would ask you, what do you think is the most overrated tech trend?
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AI-Powered Cushions That Heal: How Kalogon Is Redefining Mobility and Comfort
I think I agree. I think there's going to be very specific tasks that AI is going to be great for, but a generalized agent to almost act as like a true assistant. I see it being better than what we saw with like Siri and Alexa, but I don't see it getting to where the hype is claiming is going to be.
Lead With AI
AI-Powered Cushions That Heal: How Kalogon Is Redefining Mobility and Comfort
I agree, I agree. Well, thank you so much for taking the time.
Lead With AI
AI-Powered Cushions That Heal: How Kalogon Is Redefining Mobility and Comfort
All right. Thank you so much for your time.
Lead With AI
AI-Powered Cushions That Heal: How Kalogon Is Redefining Mobility and Comfort
Yes. So for me, it all started back in high school where I noticed a student who would pull the recycling behind his manual wheelchair. And one day I saw that the recycling bin was too heavy for him. So he had to have someone basically come rescue him and wheel him back to class. And, you know, I asked, you know, why didn't he also have a power wheelchair as well?
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AI-Powered Cushions That Heal: How Kalogon Is Redefining Mobility and Comfort
And his teacher told me that it was denied because he can move like 100 yards under his own strength. That didn't feel right. And so I traded a moped for a wheelchair on Craigslist. I tripped it out for him. It totally changed his life.
Lead With AI
AI-Powered Cushions That Heal: How Kalogon Is Redefining Mobility and Comfort
And then I had all these other people coming to me needing wheelchairs as well because their insurance had denied them or because of one reason or another they didn't have insurance. And so since then I've refurbished and given away well over 150 wheelchairs. And that's kind of why I became an engineer. And it's specifically why this population is one that I serve.
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AI-Powered Cushions That Heal: How Kalogon Is Redefining Mobility and Comfort
Yep. For me now, it's literally a little over 15 years now.
Lead With AI
AI-Powered Cushions That Heal: How Kalogon Is Redefining Mobility and Comfort
I have great parents that always taught me empathy and that you shouldn't wait for someone to ask for help. If you see a problem and you're able to solve it, then that's what you should do.
Lead With AI
AI-Powered Cushions That Heal: How Kalogon Is Redefining Mobility and Comfort
Yes, that's really interesting. For me, one, I never had the – I wasn't smart enough to build the nonprofit in a way – people kept coming to me in need, and I just kept refurbishing wheelchairs. It wasn't some grand vision or plan. But as I would work on these wheelchairs, I would see that this technology was so far behind what consumers – without disabilities were seeing in their everyday life.
Lead With AI
AI-Powered Cushions That Heal: How Kalogon Is Redefining Mobility and Comfort
And so I was like, hey, you know, it's my life's goal to try to bring technology up to speed in this space. So I actually built one of the world's first smart wheelchairs and even gotten to do some work with that where Stephen Hawking endorsed it. And then from there, I was like, great, you know, I've helped them increase the technology.
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AI-Powered Cushions That Heal: How Kalogon Is Redefining Mobility and Comfort
And then I went to SpaceX so I could learn how do you disrupt really hard to disrupt industry so I could create my own company in the space to try to solve more problems. And that's when we realized, you know, seeding for people with disabilities is something where there is a huge issue that if we didn't solve it, we didn't know that it ever would get solved.
Lead With AI
AI-Powered Cushions That Heal: How Kalogon Is Redefining Mobility and Comfort
Yeah. So all of our, all of our smart cushion products, uh, like do use AI. What we really start with is what is the problem we can solve and what are the best tools in the world to solve it? And, you know, there's this great new, newer tool and, uh, it's kind of been infused, uh, in the product and, and, uh, in some of our core algorithms even, uh, for how the product responds to your body.
Lead With AI
AI-Powered Cushions That Heal: How Kalogon Is Redefining Mobility and Comfort
So everyone is used to sitting on these seats that are designed to fit everyone. That's not possible. Someone who weighs 80 pounds is female versus someone who weighs 400 pounds is male. The right cushion support for them is never going to be the same. But we've got to create seating that can accommodate all these different shapes and sizes.
Lead With AI
AI-Powered Cushions That Heal: How Kalogon Is Redefining Mobility and Comfort
And so when you sit down on our seat and you suddenly start feeling it shift and move and you feel it like, that like, wow, this cushion just suddenly fit itself to me. I don't have to fit myself to a seat. And most people have never experienced that in their life. And so whenever they feel the cushion doing that and adapting to their body, that's your holy smokes wow moment.
Lead With AI
AI-Powered Cushions That Heal: How Kalogon Is Redefining Mobility and Comfort
Yeah, so what we're doing is we're using, we have these air cells and these air cells we're able to use sensor data to read sort of what's happening with them.
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AI-Powered Cushions That Heal: How Kalogon Is Redefining Mobility and Comfort
And so we effectively can look at the shape of your body and how you're supported and then infer, and then we have algorithms that use some basic machine learning and AI that actually change the way that we're increasing or decreasing air in each of those bladders based on your unique body. So think about it where without these tools, you couldn't truly have a custom algorithm for everyone.
Lead With AI
AI-Powered Cushions That Heal: How Kalogon Is Redefining Mobility and Comfort
The fact that, you know, we're able to use machine learning and AI to tune the algorithm to someone's body is one of the ways that we can now truly make a product that fits everyone's individual body rather than being a one size fits all.
Lead With AI
AI-Powered Cushions That Heal: How Kalogon Is Redefining Mobility and Comfort
Yeah, so there are a couple different ways that our technology kind of manifests depending on the market. For someone who uses a wheelchair, we can see how you carry the load of your body with the back pressure whenever you first sit down. And so that's like we see the pressure on all of our different, you know, our air cells.
Lead With AI
AI-Powered Cushions That Heal: How Kalogon Is Redefining Mobility and Comfort
And then with that, we can see like, oh, you're putting more on the left, the right, or you're carrying more load. Like more out to your hips or your ischial tuberosities in the middle. And then we can be like, ah, this must be this shape of your body. We adjust and see how that changes, how your load is carried. And that's how we're able to shape to you.
Lead With AI
AI-Powered Cushions That Heal: How Kalogon Is Redefining Mobility and Comfort
Now, if you're someone who uses a wheelchair, there are certain things we can't scan or know with our sensors. And so that's where there's other inputs for the data. And so there's an application where if you have like a pressure injury in a specific area, you can actually
Lead With AI
AI-Powered Cushions That Heal: How Kalogon Is Redefining Mobility and Comfort
Tell the cushion that and it'll take that into account along with your data that it's reading and put that together to change the way the cushion interacts with your body.
Lead With AI
AI-Powered Cushions That Heal: How Kalogon Is Redefining Mobility and Comfort
So we want to make it super simple. So right now, you download the app, you connect via Bluetooth, almost like it's a pair of headphones. Okay. And it pulls the data and most of the data and the processing is actually done on the unit itself. That way, if you have a clinician or something or a different person sits down, they can connect and then have the seat changed to them.
Lead With AI
AI-Powered Cushions That Heal: How Kalogon Is Redefining Mobility and Comfort
Exactly. So like for someone who uses a wheelchair, it's typically the same person in the seat. It doesn't need to do that too much. But for like our seating that we use for pilots, we don't know if it's going to be a different pilot flying that plane. Uh, and also the pilot doesn't have time to mess with an app. They need to be focused on what they're doing.
Lead With AI
AI-Powered Cushions That Heal: How Kalogon Is Redefining Mobility and Comfort
And so that's where the cushion does all that by itself. You don't even have to think about it. It just works.
Lead With AI
AI-Powered Cushions That Heal: How Kalogon Is Redefining Mobility and Comfort
Yeah. So there's, so think about long duration, like seats, like if you're going to, if you're You know, even think about like premium economy seats, let's say, where you can't lay flat, you're going to be hurting when you arrive. We can reduce those negative health effects without you having to fully lay flat or get up and move around. And that's something that's truly game changing.
Lead With AI
AI-Powered Cushions That Heal: How Kalogon Is Redefining Mobility and Comfort
Look at like motorcycles. We've even had some stuff for some like lay down applications for like NICUs, for example. So there's really, think about this. The most common activity in the world is sitting.
Lead With AI
AI-Powered Cushions That Heal: How Kalogon Is Redefining Mobility and Comfort
And we do sitting better than anybody. So we can change the lives of anyone who must sit for long periods of time and often can't get up and move around, whether it's a job or a disability.
Lead With AI
AI-Powered Cushions That Heal: How Kalogon Is Redefining Mobility and Comfort
One day, yes. We don't have anything for that application yet, but it's certainly one where we see a lot of opportunity to be able to keep you in the game and help you perform at your best.
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AI-Powered Cushions That Heal: How Kalogon Is Redefining Mobility and Comfort
The real world magic, the times where it just gives me chills, that happens two, three times a week. Normally it happens where the sales team sends a message of, hey, I just got this story back from one of our reps. Whether it's earlier this week, someone saying the first time that they've been able to sit without pain for like 30 years, whether it's someone-
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AI-Powered Cushions That Heal: How Kalogon Is Redefining Mobility and Comfort
being able to to go like tell me they'd be able to go on their first road trip to see their grandkids and i thought they never were going to because the pain pressure sore we've got another individual that we've even got a case study on who uh she had to stay on bed rest for like two or three years.
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AI-Powered Cushions That Heal: How Kalogon Is Redefining Mobility and Comfort
Her doctor had said he tried everything to solve this wound and he wasn't sure what else he could try. And after switching to our cushion, the wounds now completely healed. Oh my gosh. Oh my gosh. One of the most incredible moments of my time at Caligon was going out to a work lunch And having someone call over to me and be like, oh, you're not going to say hi.
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AI-Powered Cushions That Heal: How Kalogon Is Redefining Mobility and Comfort
And then seeing that customer and being like, wait, you're, you're, you're out of the hospital. And she's like, yeah, the progress is going so well that the doctor is letting me get out to go have lunch with my friends again.
Lead With AI
AI-Powered Cushions That Heal: How Kalogon Is Redefining Mobility and Comfort
And absolutely. Like, that's why we do it. And, you know, that's, uh, that's why most of the team is, is here. We're very mission driven and, and those, those chill moments. I'm so fortunate to have those on a weekly basis.
Lead With AI
AI-Powered Cushions That Heal: How Kalogon Is Redefining Mobility and Comfort
Yeah, that's something that, we care so much about that there's likely more we could do to have the cushion interact with you, but we want to be very careful that the way we're implementing things is safe and from an efficacy focused perspective.
Lead With AI
AI-Powered Cushions That Heal: How Kalogon Is Redefining Mobility and Comfort
That's actually why there's a lot of data that we could collect that would probably be valuable to us that we haven't started collecting yet because us collecting it is not necessarily driving value to the customer in all cases. It's not that it would hurt them, but
Lead With AI
AI-Powered Cushions That Heal: How Kalogon Is Redefining Mobility and Comfort
If we're taking your data and we're not driving you additional value for those data points, is it right for us to take that data and not compensate you with an improved product or something like that? That's one of those things that's tough.
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AI-Powered Cushions That Heal: How Kalogon Is Redefining Mobility and Comfort
I think when we also look at the way, everything down to how we market, we see so many people in our industry who doesn't have representative populations involved with the product creation or with the product marketing. And so we make sure that we actually bring in models who are legitimately people with disabilities, many of them who use our product to be able to show it.
Lead With AI
AI-Powered Cushions That Heal: How Kalogon Is Redefining Mobility and Comfort
And that's something that all those little, and by the way, not only bring them in, but pay them because very often people aren't compensating people with disabilities to give their time and their ideas for how you can build these products. And that's something that is infused in all of our business to make sure that we are protecting the human and we're also respecting that human.
Lead With AI
AI-Powered Cushions That Heal: How Kalogon Is Redefining Mobility and Comfort
Yeah. So the goal there is like, you know, our company model right now is live an active seated life. that the more we advance in society, the more that we see people sitting. And our goal is to allow you to be in whatever position is the most beneficial for you in that scenario, but then reduce the negative health effects of that.
Lead With AI
AI-Powered Cushions That Heal: How Kalogon Is Redefining Mobility and Comfort
So whether it's on a long commute in a self-driving car, self-driving cars are going to mean longer commutes. Mm-hmm. When that happens, we want to make sure that you don't also have less mobility when you arrive. You know, people traveling long distances.
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AI-Powered Cushions That Heal: How Kalogon Is Redefining Mobility and Comfort
If you can't afford to do late flight business class seating, I'd love for you to be able to have our technology still have you arrive ready to be effective, ready to enjoy whatever your travel reason is. And so I think. The real goal is for our technology to not be intrusive too.
Lead With AI
AI-Powered Cushions That Heal: How Kalogon Is Redefining Mobility and Comfort
So by 2030, I'd love for you to sit on a cushion and you have an expectation that you're sitting on Caligon's technology, but you don't need to know it or be reminded about it. It just needs to work so that you can live your life how you want.
Lead With AI
AI-Powered Cushions That Heal: How Kalogon Is Redefining Mobility and Comfort
Yes. So depending on the markets, we'll sometimes have sales channel partners. We do a lot of either B2B or B2B2C. Okay. Yep. So in the wheelchair market, we have sales channel partners who are able to make sure that our cushion is fit properly for their wheelchair and able to just ensure that the overall seating configuration meets that user's needs.