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Gladding McBean Photo Shoot UPCOMING EVENT Interested in meeting us? Come to an event near you. SEPT. 14 Ekso exhibiting alongside UR with focus on EksoZeroG CHEVRON HEALTH & SAFETY FAIR EKSOVEST IN ACTION Newsletter SUMMER2017 SUMMER2017 The EksoWorks industrial product line seeks to address one of the biggest challenges facing the construction industry today— protecting workers while finishing jobs on time and within budget. Many companies are seeing a trend of increasing costs related to worker safety, driven primarily by worker fatigue, strain and other job-related injuries. With EksoWorks’ innovative technology, workers can com- plete heavy tool tasks with less fatigue, better workmanship and fewer workplace injuries. What does an 18 year tractor pull champion and the EksoZeroG™ have in common? Russ Angold. Raised on a small farm in California, Russ grew up with an affinity for all things mechanical and agricultural. Marrying these loves, Russ received a Bachelors in Bio Resource and Agricultural Engineering from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo. During his senior level mechanical design class project, he was part of a group that built a 1200 horsepower competition tractor. That tractor was so good, that it’s frame was only retired this year after 18 years of competition, but the engine lives on! After college, Russ made his mark at Berkeley Process Control designing semiconductor wafer handling robots and optical fiber rewind machines. It was there, in 2000, that he filed for his first patent and met Nathan Harding who would eventually invite him to work on the DARPA exoskeleton project at UC Berkeley. Immediately it became obvious that there was a huge technical problem to solve. When Russ arrived to make the next generation of BLEEX, he realized it consumed 5000 Watts of power, more than 6.7hp, which was not practical for everyday use. Russ realized that this was the most critical problem to be solved. Within a year there was a new Exoskeleton, building on cues from human design, which only required 2 Watts and could support over 200 lbs. It was named Exo Hiker and its revolutionary technol- ogy has allowed all successive Ekso Bionics designs to efficiently run on battery power or no power at all. When Ekso Hiker was born it changed the exoskeleton power paradigm, and the rest is history, but it doesn’t stop there. Now Russ, a Founder of Ekso Bionics, and President of EksoWorks, is setting his sights on construction and industrial workers. Spending most of his high school and college summers on construction sites himself, Russ believes there is a better, safer and more efficient way to get the job done. Targeting the construction industry is no easy task. Historically slow to adopt new technology, Russ and the EksoWorks team have their work cut out for them. The biggest challenge facing EksoWorks, according to Angold, is awareness and adoption. Said Russ “People need to know that our products are available today, at their local equipment rental provider, to help get the job done.” In his fleeting spare time, you can find Russ outdoors with his family. Going to the lake, riding dirt bikes, snow skiing, there are no favorites here- just pure fun! When asked which movie character he would be, Russ chuckles and says quickly “The Dude” from the Big Lebowski, hands down. Which sports team is his favorite? None of them. Russ insists that it’s not the teams he loves, but being in the crowd at any hometown game cheering with the fans, feeling the vibes. The true cowboys of Ekso Bionics are blazing a new path in the construction and industrial space, leaving sparks wherever they go. One thing is certain, the EksoWorks team has a fearless leader with a passion for helping people with game changing ideas, and at the same time, practical technology. You could say, he’s a little bit country and a little bit rock ’n’ roll. by Douglas Younger III Director of Global Marketing Twitter: @DouglasYounger ZeroG FIRST TIME USER EXPERIENCE Ohana means a great deal to Tatiana Marie Lokelani O Ku`upu`uwai AguirrE How Creative Marketing is Working to Build Awareness in Industrial Markets The Problem The Employee She is a native Hawai’ian from the Wai`anae side of Oahu. Tatiana grew up helping her family with their construction business, where many of them still work today. We asked Tatiana to help us try out the EksoZeroG and EksoVest during our latest photoshoot and here’s what she had to say. What is your construction background? I’ve done a variety of things, electrical, dry wall, frame work, laying water lines, masonry, landscaping and just about every corner of construction. How is the learning curve? Set up is easy, you can focus on your safety and work, something that has always been hard to balance in the construction industry. Once you get it adjusted for the range of motion and the weight of the tool, it isn’t anything, it isn’t even work anymore. Not having to fight the weight of the tool was unreal. It’s something I haven’t experienced before, I didn’t think it was possible. It was so much easier, like gliding. In the construc- tion world it’s probably like flying for the first time, like Wonder Woman. What was it like using the EksoZeroG? When drilling without the EksoZeroG I felt like there was a lot of pain that I had in my back, it started getting hard to breathe, I knew I was hot. When I started using the EksoZeroG, I forgot it was even hot outside (115 F). The pain immediately alleviated and it was just so easy to use. The only thing I would have to get used to is defying gravity! Were you able to work longer with the EksoZeroG? Yes, I felt like I could go a lot longer with it. There was no pressure on my back, “the only motion I really had to do was drilling the hole going forward, it got the work done faster and I was able to concentrate where I was aiming next.” Are you in construction anymore? Construction is in my blood. My whole family has always been in construction but a lot of them don’t do it anymore because of the strain it puts on your body. I got out at a really young age because it was something I didn’t want to put my body through any- more. I think about how hard my brother and my dad, who are still in the construction industry, work and it’s killing their bodies. My brother’s body has probably aged more than mine has and he’s only 19. What could this product mean to your family? The slogan power without pain is completely accurate. This would really help my family a lot. Just imagining how this product could ease the physical labor of their job is unbe- lievable. I’ve have a lot of family and friends in the construction industry. It’s like by the time they’re 45, they’ve already completely lived their lives. They’re already so fatigued and weighted, that it’s sad and now there is a product like that this that can change so much of that. Jonathan Woetzel reflected about industrial infrastructure investment in Harvard Business Review stating, “The opportunity is large. If global con- struction productivity were to catch up to the total economy over the past 20 years, the industry’s added value could rise by $1.6 trillion.” As a global leader in exoskeleton technology, Ekso Bionics has made considerable investment in applying its intellectual property for applications that could be catalysts in future gains for productivity in manufacturing and construction. With momentum building for the EksoZeroG assist device and the upcoming release of the EksoVest, the EksoWorks team mission of making work easier, safer, and hence more productive may deliver value add for the industry. One significant challenge in realizing the theorized productivity gains that is obstructing a potential global industrial renaissance is awareness of opportunities for innovation! To accomplish this task, Annalee is seeking more co-marketing partner- ships with trade associations, automotive manufacturers, and safety asso- ciations. “The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) is the safety benchmark. People trust them. I want to help them understand we want to collaborate and earn their stamp of approval. Collaboratively we can position the EksoZeroG as the product for safety which will give us more credibility and increased adoption driven by convinced safety offi- cers.” Annalee - having recently managed and organized a 5-day photo-shoot in Lincoln Cali- fornia at Gladding McBean construction site - is hoping to show our products in use in the real world (115 degree Fahrenheit temperatures) with actual construction workers. She hopes that by telling their story on social media and in email drip campaigns this fall, we will attract the attention of OSHA and other potential collaborators. This strategy is already being implemented by exploring a partnership with Builtworlds, whom approached EksoWorks due to the success of the previous video interview conducted by Zach Haas – Product Marketing Manager for the EksoVest going viral receiving over 12,000 views in 6 weeks. Although optimistic, Annalee is also realistic in that critical mass of awareness will take time,“I want EksoWorks to be the first exoskeleton manufacturer to be in a Superbowl advertisement but given our size and scale we will need to continue collaborating with some of the biggest names in industry. We are making progress. We are building credibility. The future for EksoWorks is very bright but it will take time.” I sat down with Annalee Narwold-Ladd, Marketing Manager for EksoWorks to talk about how her personal contributions to creative marketing might aid in awareness for construction workers, site supervisors, safety officers, and 3rd party associations. Annalee has been working at Ekso Bionics for the past 3 years but after joining team EksoWorks in 2017 she feels like, “I finally found my purpose, my people, and I LOVE IT.” The Solution The Results The Conclusion Thanks to Annalee’s efforts and hard-work, the EksoWorks team has recently re-launched eksoworks.com with new media and content that resulted in over In preparation of the release of EksoVest, the team has recently produced a new dedicated EksoWorks YouTube channel featuring “Power without Pain for Manufacturing and Construction” that has already received over 1,000 views in 2 weeks post-launch. Also, thanks to the success of early pre-emptive media relations, the EksoWorks mission has already been written about in Bloomberg BNA, The UK Times, VICE, and UKDailyMail. The EksoWorks team has considerable plans for the future including a new media campaign in the fall releasing each week footage from the Gladding McBean construction site in video-format for social media including our first customer video testimonials. INTRODUCING REQUEST A DEMO TODAY SAFE & SOUND WEEK & SAFTEY WEEK The next innovation from the EksoWorks team is here and available for presale! The EksoVest is an upper body exoskeleton that elevates and supports a worker's arms to assist them with tasks ranging from chest height to overhead. It is lightweight and low profile, making it comfortable to wear in all conditions while enabling freedom of motion. At the core of EksoWorks is the need to help workers stay safer on the job. EksoWorks is teaming up with multiple companies and OSHA to promote worker safety EksoWorks took their products on the road to test them out and take some action shots. We went out to the Gladding McBean factory for our first, on location, industrial photo- shoot. We spent 5 days exploring every inch of this historical and working terra-cotta plant. Thanks to our crew and the amazing crew at Gladding McBean, we were able to capture some real life photos and videos that will be featured on our site soon. Here are some behind the scenes images of EksoZeroG and EksoVest with real construction workers. Although marketing in the industrial sector is completely different than in the medical sector, I believe our mission of improving quality of life is shared. Thanks to the personal contributions and optimism of Annalee, we may one day as a company be responsible for making everyone aware that exoskeletons could prove Jonathan Woetzel’s research that the construction industry could boost productivity 50% to 60% by instituting best practices and innovations. More importantly, we may prove to ourselves that although productivity is the most important indicator of success for our customers, our mission at Ekso Bionics of helping people may reignite an industry! 1.Sitting On The Dock Of The Bay Otis Redding 2.Build Me Up Buttercup The Foundations 3.In The Year 2525 Saver & Evans 4.Sky Pilot The Animals 5.These Eye Guess Who 6.Star Spangled Banner Whitney Houston 7.You Have A Friend James Taylor 8.Blackbird The Beatles 9.Ruby Tuesday Rolling Stones 10.Killing Me Softly Robert Flack The Times “Future generations will also look forward to not suffering the kind of damaging body problems today’s construction workers face.” LEARN MORE We’re now on Instagram to raise awareness about construction and industrial safety. FOLLOW US ON INSTAGRAM @eksoworks We’re making moves and providing #powerwithoutpain on a daily basis! Subscribe to our Youtube channel so you don’t miss our newest videos of the EksoZeroG and the EksoVest in action! FOLLOW US ON YOUTUBE Eksoworks.com is live! Check it out from any browser. CHECK THE NEW WEBPAGE STAY CONNECTED eksoworks.com THANK YOU for moving as one with EksoWorks Contact us at eksoworks.com CHECK US OUT ON By Annalee Narwold-Ladd Marketing Manager Twitter: @annaleeladd Our core mission at EksoWORKS is to help people, and there is a tremendous opportunity to help workers around the world get their job done safely and efficiently. There have been many advancements in tools, equipment, and safety gear over the years, but nothing has been designed to take the fatigue and strain off of the worker. We can change that. or something from movies. Our products are helping workers on Job sites everyday around the world. This is not science fiction By Annalee Narwold-Ladd Marketing Manager Twitter: @annaleeladd HELPING the Ohana Building Awareness FROM TRACTORS TO EXOSKELETONS Annalee, after graduating from Eastern Washington University majoring in International Affairs and Government, leaving her hometown of Spokane, Washington with her husband that serves in the US Coast Guard, and experiencing withdrawal from her precious Seattle Seahawks pursued recruitment at Ekso Bionics where she worked as an Executive Assistant for the CEO, CCO & CFO prior to transitioning to a new life as a marketeer to help build awareness and adoption in indus- trial markets. Commenting on why she will never give up on the mission to reduce the nearly $21 Billion in worker compensation annually in the United States associated to construction related work-injuries Annalee states, “I am working on creative marketing campaigns to make everyone working in construction know that EksoWorks is about helping you get your job done in the safest and most productive manner possible.” 12.5K 50 visitors DEMO REQUESTS IN TWO MONTHS EksoWorks has made headlines this quarter for our innovative technology and leadership. Ekso Bionics was honored to help a child Make-A-Wish in July! Sammuel is an 11-year-old boy that joined the#MakeAWish foundation. His wish was to “go somewhere special like an exoskeleton research center where studies are done with wearable robots. This is my wish because I want to help with giving them ideas on development and giving ideas on how they can help kids like me. I feel it would be good in helping people walk, giving then the strength to do regular things.” VICE highlighted how the EksoVest is designed to decrease the wear and tear on industrial workers’ bodies. VICE LEARN MORE The Daily Mail states EksoWorks builds revolutionary products focused on safety. DailyMail LEARN MORE Construction workers could experience less wear and tear as contractors increasingly turn to exoskeleton technology to ward off injuries and fatigue. Bloomberg BNA LEARN MORE WE WANT TO HEAR FROM YOU! Take our short survey now and tell us how to better serve you! WATCH OUR LATEST VIDEO Russ Angold | Eksoworks Founder & President Tatiana Marie Retired Construction Worker SUMMER HIGHLIGHTS RANDY SCHUM Construction Worker
