Oreejoy wins Boeing BUILD grant for AI-powered mobility wearable

Oreejoy Medtech Private Limited, a startup incubated at the Indian Institute of Technology Gandhinagar, has won the Boeing BUILD National Finals and a ₹10 lakh grant for an artificial-intelligence-powered wearable insole designed to analyse walking and support mobility assessment. The company was selected from around 2,200 applications in the fifth edition of Boeing’s University Innovation Leadership Development Program; 28 teams reached the National Finals, and seven received grants. The announcement identifies the award as support for a system combining embedded pressure sensors, signal processing, wireless data transfer and software-based gait analysis in a compact form intended for use beyond specialised gait laboratories.

At the centre of the system, known as INSTROLE, is a lightweight insole that maps pressure beneath the foot. Its sensors record how weight shifts during walking, how the foot contacts the ground and how movement changes over time. Measurements are processed by an edge device and can be transmitted wirelessly to the cloud for storage and analysis. An accompanying app presents summaries of walking and balance performance to users and more detailed gait patterns to clinicians, with potential applications in assessment, monitoring and rehabilitation. Oreejoy says its wearable approach can reduce the cost of gait-analysis technology by about 80 per cent compared with the systems it sought to complement.

According to founder and technical director Uttama Lahiri, a professor in IIT Gandhinagar’s Department of Electrical Engineering, the project grew out of work begun after he returned to India in 2012 on mobility disorders associated with Parkinson’s disease and stroke. He said conventional gait analysis at the time relied largely on pressure-sensitive walkways or camera-based systems that could cost approximately ₹25 lakh to ₹65 lakh and required specialised facilities. The team investigated whether comparable information could be captured in a wearable device positioned closer to the patient or user. Following a decade of research and clinical collaboration across India, the resulting platform also provides personalised sensory cues intended to assist walking in people with Parkinson’s disease. The announcement does not report a controlled clinical trial or quantify the device’s rehabilitation benefit.

Research involving around 300 participants across Rajkot, Ahmedabad, Gandhinagar and New Delhi has supported the startup’s work, according to the release. The programme brought together researchers, clinicians, students and technology developers and has expanded beyond Parkinson’s-related mobility into post-stroke rehabilitation, flat-foot assessment and osteoarthritis. The institute’s Tinkerer’s Lab and Research Park provided facilities and support. The company also describes a clinical example involving a 75-year-old patient who initially visited a hospital with a grandchild and walking stick but later crossed the road outside the hospital independently. This is an individual account rather than evidence of average treatment efficacy.

Oreejoy’s grant is intended to advance the development of AI-enabled solutions for rehabilitation and potentially sports-related gait applications, but the announcement does not specify forthcoming trials, a regulatory pathway or a commercial launch schedule. The Boeing BUILD programme provides participating early-stage ventures with learning opportunities, mentorship, incubator support and access to industry expertise, and IIT Gandhinagar’s Innovation and Entrepreneurship Center was one of seven incubator partners. The award supports both product development and the company’s broader ambition of making mobility analysis more accessible. The reported result is the startup’s selection for a national innovation grant after a decade of research and collaboration; the release does not establish comparative clinical accuracy, routine effectiveness or the extent of the projected cost reduction.

Subject of Research: AI-powered wearable insole for gait analysis and mobility rehabilitation

Article Title: IIT Gandhinagar startup Oreejoy wins Boeing BUILD National Finals for AI-powered wearable device

Article References: IIT Gandhinagar startup Oreejoy wins Boeing BUILD National Finals for AI-powered wearable device. Original publication (Bibliographic details unavailable.)

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Keywords: Oreejoy, wearable technology, gait analysis, artificial intelligence, pressure sensors, mobility assessment, rehabilitation, Parkinson’s disease, IIT Gandhinagar, Boeing BUILD, Gandhinagar, startup