A custom smart cushion created by a company co-founded by 2017 mechanical engineering alum Tim Balz to improve seated wellness within health care, transportation, and defense industries has received special mention among TIME magazine’s Best Innovations of 2024 list. 

Kalogon’s Orbiter Med product features groundbreaking Advanced Pressure Management System (APMS) that’s clinically proven to improve blood flow to build custom fabricated cushions that are custom fabricated for wheelchair users, pilots, transportation workers, and others based on each patient’s unique seating and positioning requirements.

Pressure injuries are one of the leading causes of preventable death in the United States, and more than 50% of people who use wheelchairs have experienced a PI from sitting, according to Kalogon.

"Our first Orbiter cushion was created out of a need for innovation in seating for people at higher risk for pressure injuries, who have been ignored for decades," stated Balz, Kalogon’s chief executive officer and co-founder with 2017 mechanical engineering classmate Aaron Jones. "Orbiter has been proven to improve blood flow and has already changed the lives of countless customers living active seated lives, but we know that one size doesn’t fit all. Orbiter Med is a fully customized system that blends the best technology in pressure management with tailored stability and postural support specific to a patient’s needs." 

The cushion product was launched in 2024 and earned federal approval for Medicare billing earlier this year – a significant achievement for the Florida-based company. It also raised $1.2 million in extended seed funding, including support from a group of Rose-Hulman alumni in the Sawmill Society’s Angel Network to expand its line of products. Several other alumni have helped the company throughout its development, while students have contributed during internship and co-op work opportunities.

“Kalogon is on an impressive trajectory, propelling the entire industry forward to provide solutions for health conditions that have been ignored for far too long,” said 1996 computer science alum Jeff Ready, a Sawmill Angels investor and Kalogon board member, in a company news release. “Kalogon has the potential to not only serve the medical industry with better mobility products but also solve complex seating problems in aviation, transportation, the public sector, and many more industries, and we are proud to support their next growth phase.”

Balz, named a 2024 Future Leader by the Mobility Management organization, has been working with mobility devices since his teenage years to improve the user experience. As a Rose-Hulman student, Balz earned an Intel challenge award for a fully connected wheelchair. After graduation, he worked on developing rockets with SpaceX but kept coming back to his passion for helping people. He then started Kalogon, a company committed to providing top-of-the-line products to everyone who needs them.

“Kalogon doesn’t create products looking for a solution – everything we do is born out of the needs of our customers,” Balz states. “We take every piece of customer feedback to heart and thank all those who helped us test each iteration of Orbiter Med. This achievement is a testament to our team’s relentless effort to continuously improve our products.”

He added, “Recognition from TIME (with the Best Innovations of 2024 listing) is a huge honor for Kalogon and is a director result of out customers, partners, and team.”

Balz earned the Alumni Advisory Board’s Distinguished Young Alumni Award in 2022 and the Institute’s Tom Mason Innovation Award in 2024 for having an entrepreneurial spirit, keen problem-solving skills, and a drive for career success.