Worldwide companies show off new inventions at WearRAcon 17 in Phoenix

PHOENIX (KSAZ) - Some of the most innovative minds from around the world are in Phoenix for the Wearable Tech Conference. It's an event where companies show off their latest inventions and it's all geared towards making moving and working easier.

Ask the people in this room and they'll tell you this is the future.

"Just like you wear glasses or ride a bike, you'll have a device just to help you walk around as you get older," Tom Sugar said.

Sugar is a professor at Arizona State University, which is hosting the WearRAcon 17 Conference at the Hyatt in downtown Phoenix.

The device he is wearing is a hip exoskeleton.

"People would benefit from this if you're carrying heavy loads, it give you assistance to walk, it helps you walk faster, squat and then stand back up," Sugar said.

Right now, the goal is to sell these types of devices to companies, but soon, when they become more popular, the goal is to have them available to the general public.

"We had contact with loads of companies, like Caterpillar and FedEx, those are just important companies for us," Dunkin Dreffers said.

Dreffers is with Laevo and is here all the way from Holland, hoping to have the same luck he had last year. The tech on display is an exoskelton for back pain.

"Imagine you're a surgeon standing over a patient for eight-to-12 hours like this, or you're a package handler," he said. "You have to bend a lot and come back up with some force."

You have Keeogo, which is technology from Canada that is making its way through the FDA approval process right now.

"You can imagine after a stroke, if you have a spinal chord injury, or anything that's causing you to walk not quite right, you can wear this device and correct that for you," Eitan Anenberg said.

All of this could be tested using this other technology out of Tempe. Goxtudio uses sensors to track how efficiently you're moving around. It may be the sound of the future and it's on display for companies right now in the Valley.

WearRAcon 17
April 19 - 21
Hyatt Regency
122 N. 2nd St.
Phoenix, AZ 85004
www.wearablerobotics.com/wearracon-17-2

Wearable Robotics Association
10115 E. Bell Rd
Suite 107 #625
Scottsdale, AZ 85260
602-632-0999
www.wearablerobotics.com