High-tech robotics in the intensive care unit for the first time

With revolutionary vision and the right partners to success

In many operating rooms, robots are already almost part of everyday life and it is hard to imagine life without them. The situation is quite different in intensive care units. Until 2020, robots were not to be found there. Only with the robotic assistance system VEMOTION for early mobilization of intensive care patients, high-tech robotics moved into the wards. It is thanks to the visionary scientist and company founder Dr. Alexander König, who found the right partner at the right time with Bayern Innovativ.

Early mobilization for faster recovery

In 2020, Reactive Robotics became the first company in the world to bring high-tech robotics to the intensive care unit. Since then, its VEMOTION assistive robot system has been helping caregivers and therapists mobilize their patients at a very early stage - in some cases even from day one. In the process, the patient remains in the intensive care bed throughout the treatment. The robot is docked directly to the bed, eliminating the risky transfer to a therapy device. "This means that even a 50-pound nurse can easily provide therapy to a 130-pound patient - without endangering the patient or himself," says founder and CEO Dr. Alexander König, explaining his innovation. He uses a recent example to explain the benefits: "Ventilated Corona patients have to lie on their stomachs for an average of three weeks. If they are successfully brought back, they have beaten Corona but are usually only a shadow of themselves. With early mobilization through VEMOTION, we can significantly improve their situation without increased demand on already overburdened caregivers." The company's surveys show just how significantly. Studies using manual early mobilization show an average of 20 percent faster recovery of critically ill patients. Without the expertise and creativity of Alexander König and his dedicated team, this would not be possible today. But also not without funding.

Funding - more than a start-up aid

"Success has three letters - DO." Johann Wolfgang von Goethe already knew that. That's exactly what Alexander König did when the idea for VEMOTION came to him while reading a technical article: "As an engineer, you must be able to do something so that early mobilization becomes accessible to many patients and caregivers are physically relieved by technology." He built a model out of Lego bricks and drafted a business plan. A short time later, he quit his lucrative job in the automotive industry and used his retirement savings to create a startup. "My parents threw their hands up in horror, but I believed in my vision," the entrepreneur recalls. At the same time, he knew it wouldn't work without more funding. After all, the path from idea to innovation costs money - especially in medical technology. In 2015, a wooden model was created in the garage at home and the first employee came on board. At the same time, König embarked on the arduous search for financial support. He found what he was looking for through Bayern Innovativ.

The right people for all questions about technology funding

Before ideas become innovations, high costs are usually incurred. But where to get the funds, who to turn to? Alexander König is convinced that "for me, the best decision was to turn to Bayern Innovativ." The Project Management Bavaria business unit based there acts as a funding guide and advisor in the jungle of technology funding programs offered by the Free State of Bavaria, the federal government and the EU. The team is also entrusted by the Bavarian Ministry of Economic Affairs with the implementation of numerous technology funding programs, such as the innovation voucher. König applied for four of these vouchers between 2015 and 2017, and was particularly taken with the team's expertise and eye-to-eye dialogue. "There were people there who understood the importance of what we were trying to do," he recalls. "They advised us on the application and accompanied us until the completion of the respective projects."

Dr. Jörg Traub, Head of Specialization Field Health at Bayern Innovativ GmbH and Managing Director of Forum MedTech Pharma e.V. recounts: "My colleague Sabine Blassmann, who was responsible at the time, was enthusiastic about the project. The improvement in the situation of intensive care patients was clearly visible. After a few queries, our experts quickly gave the go-ahead. Alexander König is on fire for the project, has a deep scientific understanding of technology and medicine in equal measure, and has a good grip on the ground to boot."

With the funding granted, the company, which had nine employees at the time, financed the hardware development of the sensor network and the control electronics of a demonstrator. In addition, a design study and the development of a novel knee orthosis for the therapy device. These are all important prerequisites for winning over potential funding and also research partners with a convincing prototype. König is convinced, "You have to fire up the vision machine in the minds of potential partners. Being a good storyteller helps you do that, but you need the perfect prototype above all." Here, the innovation vouchers from Bayern Innovativ were more than just a jump-start. The funding helped the company develop the prototype to the point where it could subsequently obtain the all-important CE approval for VEMOTION. "Only then did we become interesting for partner companies such as clinics, hospital equipment suppliers and other companies from the ICU ecosystem. And only then were we allowed to work with patients."

Found at Bayern Innovativ: the perfect partners

Technology support programs are an important component of Bayern Innovativ GmbH in driving innovation in Bavaria. Equally relevant and a major strength of the company is networking people from science, business and politics in the interdisciplinary Thinknet Bayern. This is where partners can be found to exchange knowledge or jointly drive projects forward.

Such is the case with Alexander König. In 2018, he met Dr. Doris Maier, chief physician, specialist for orthopedics and physical therapy Center for Spinal Cord Injury with Neuro-Urology BG Unfallklinik Murnau at Bayern Innovativ. Both were members of the "Robotics in Rehabilitation" expert group of Forum Medtech Pharma e.V., Europe's leading association in the healthcare industry, which is based in the Bayern Innovativ innovation ecosystem. The meeting was the initial spark for a successful collaboration. "BGU Murnau is a leading clinic in the field of rehabilitation therapy. The fact that it was one of the first clinics to integrate VEMOTION into its mobilization therapy for severely affected patients was a huge success for us," König describes.

Today, König and his company are an integral part of the healthcare network at Bayern Innovativ and Forum Medtech Pharma e.V.. He and his team regularly take part in events and use exhibition space on the Bavarian joint stands. Alexander König appreciates the opportunity for personal exchange and lets others benefit from his experience. But his company also continues to research and develop. Both in the direction of personalized therapy and on devices for home care or even for one's own home. The fact that the young company received the coveted euRobotics Tech Transfer Award 2021 for the development of Assist-as-Needed in collaboration with the Technical University of Munich and the Schön Klinik Bad Aibling speaks for the innovative power of Reactive Robotics and the Bavarian ecosystem. In any case, König still has plenty of ideas in his quiver and the right partner for the future in Bayern Innovativ.