On March 19, 2013, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) issued UNH’s first Design Patent for the Tablet Pedestal/AT Pad Stand, a device developed by Dr. Therese Willkomm. Dr. Willkomm is the Director of ATinNH, the New Hampshire state-wide assistive technology program with the Institute on Disability, and also an assistant professor in the occupational therapy department.  

The AT Pad Stand was initially developed by Dr. Willkomm to assist those with disabilities in using an iPad. It is a portable and completely flexible tablet stand developed to benefit educators, presenters, and individual users who experience various disabilities. It allows iPads as well as other tablets to be positioned at any height, angle, or distance from a user’s face using the flexible center tubing and the swivel mounting plate. The nonslip base offers stability for those individuals with disabilities to interact with communication apps and utilize picture and video features on any tablet. Additionally, individuals with low vision, communication impairments, motor impairments, or grasping impairments benefit from the hands-free mounting plate.

Timothy Willis, Licensing Manager in UNH’s Office for Research Partnerships and Commercialization (ORPC), filed the design patent application in June 2012 in order to protect the overall and innovative design of the Stand. The ORPC is now seeking a licensee for the design patent to produce and sell the AT Pad Stand for the general public.

Since the initial development of the stand, Dr. Willkomm, the “MacGyver” of Assistive Technologies, has discovered over 101 uses for the product which she details in her book, Assistive Technology Solutions in Minutes Book II: Ordinary Items Extraordinary Solutions (available soon).

For additional details on this design patent, please contact Timothy Willis at timothy.willis@unh.edu or (603)862-0948.