Lead With AI
AI-Powered Cushions That Heal: How Kalogon Is Redefining Mobility and Comfort
Tue, 13 May 2025
In this episode of Lead with AI, Dr. Tamara Nall sits down with Tim Balz-mechanical engineer, high-school hero who once traded his moped to motorize a classmate’s wheelchair, and now CEO/co-founder of Kalogon-to explore the future of adaptive seating. Discover how Kalogon’s smart cushions, infused with pressure sensors and machine-learning algorithms, auto-customize each air cell to your unique body shape-ending decades of pain, healing multi-year pressure wounds, and empowering pilots, wheelchair users, and long-haul travelers alike. Balz shares his bold 2030 vision for integrated seating in self-driving cars and premium cabins, and explains how you can experience this AI magic today: visit Kalogon.com to request a demo or connect with a RESNA-certified ATP near you. Connect & Follow: Tim Balz (CEO): LinkedIn → linkedin.com/in/timbalzKalogon Socials: Twitter: @KalogonofficialLinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/kalogonInstagram: @Kalogon
Chapter 1: What is mobility beyond just movement?
What if mobility wasn't just about movement, but freedom? What if the way we sit could unlock dignity, independence, and access for millions of people worldwide? Today on Lead with AI, I'm joined by Tim Balz, an award-winning engineer and the founder of Caligan, a company redefining mobility through intelligent seating technology.
Tim's journey began with a bold idea to give wheelchair users their independence back. In 2014, he invented the first smart wheelchair, a breakthrough that earned Intel's IoT Device of the Year Award and the endorsement of Stephen Hawking. Since then, he's led innovations in wheelchair suspension, all-terrain mobility, and AI-powered comfort systems. But Tim's work goes beyond tech.
Through his non-profit, Freedom Chairs, he's bringing life-changing mobility to underserved communities, all for free. If you care about where innovation meets impact, this conversation will move you. Let's get into it. Welcome to Lead with AI. I'm Dr. Tamara Nall.
In each episode, we will take you behind the scenes with the visionary leaders shaping the future of AI across public and private sectors. Join us as we explore groundbreaking projects and innovations that are transforming industries and making a real impact on people's lives. Let's dive in. Hello, everyone. I'm Dr. Tamara Nall, your host for the Lead with AI podcast. And today I'm excited.
We have Tim Balls, who is the CEO and co-founder of Calligan. And welcome, Tim. How are you?
I'm doing wonderful. How are you doing?
I am doing excellent. I've been really, really excited and waiting for this discussion. So let's just get into it.
Let's do it.
Amazing. So, Tim, first of all, just tell us a little bit about yourself.
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Chapter 2: How did Tim Balz's journey in engineering begin?
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.
Wow. Oh my goodness. That's amazing. That's amazing. So break it down for us a little bit. If we were to open up the hood or open up the brain of your cushions, what would we find? What's actually happening?
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.
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.
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.
Right. And you said when it kind of like scans the body or views the body, is it a scanner? Are we entering dimensions? Kind of how does that work?
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.
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.
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
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Chapter 3: What is the vision behind Kalogon’s adaptive seating?
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...
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.
Love that. All of your answers really speak to your heart about everything. And so that that is amazing. Well, Tim, was there anything that I didn't ask that you thought I would or should anything you want to share? This has been a very exciting discussion. I'm excited for everyone who's listened.
So I would ask you, what do you think is the most overrated tech trend?
You know, honestly, based on everything, it's all of the AI agents that are being developed and whether you can build an AI agent, but is it really, really making a difference? Um, at scale and to your point about customization and being able to produce something that is very individualized. So there are a lot of people talking about agents.
I'm very happy because it does create this whole entrepreneurial bust, if you will, going on. But I think there are a lot of people talking about agents themselves and what they are. And I kind of think that's where I am on that one.
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.
Right, right, yeah. That's kind of where I am. Nothing against those that are creating them. Good for you. I just would ask that they kind of make sure that they're forward thinking, trending thinking as they develop the agents.
I agree, I agree. Well, thank you so much for taking the time.
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