The Menderi works with disabled individuals to design and fabricate devices around their lives while teaching the tools behind each build. The same work is shaping the Open Device Library, Mendr AI, and a collaborative platform coming in 2027.
Sometimes existing equipment almost works. Sometimes it solves one problem and creates another. The Menderi works with disabled individuals to research, model, fabricate, test, and refine a more specific answer while teaching the tools behind the build.
Current Pilot
In this 10-person pilot, disabled individuals define, design, build, test, and refine devices around their lives while learning the tools behind the process.
Prototype in development
Design visualization
A wheelchair user with one functional arm needs more support than a standard hemi walker provides when moving from sitting to standing.
Mechanical adaptations would add rigidity and support throughout the standing motion while preserving one-handed control.
Safer movement at home with less lifting for caregivers.
Prototype in development
Design visualization
Augmentative Clothing
A growing child needs clearer physical feedback about the position of their hips, knees, and ankles during gait training.
Adapted from professional VFX motion-capture technology, the Dynamic Gait Control (DGC) Wearable would record and learn from a user’s gait, then translate that data into precisely timed physical cues. Electrostimulation pads and electronically controlled auxetic zones would vibrate, expand, and contract to help train muscle activation and alignment, functioning as an external motor-control system for a user with impaired motor signaling.
More responsive, repeatable gait practice that can adapt as the body grows.
Prototype in development
Design visualization
A wheelchair user needs pressure support that can change as posture and pain shift throughout the day.
A resettable cushion would use interconnected silicone cells, foam pellets, a hand pump, and removable pads to form support around the body, then reshape it as needs change.
Adaptable positioning without replacing the entire cushion each time support needs change.
A few places remain in the 10-person pilot. If you or someone you support has an assistive technology need that standard equipment has not met, get in touch with our team.
Coming in 2027
The Open Device Library is being built to bring assistive technology models, components, and build information from across the web into one searchable catalog. Mendr AI is designed to use that growing resource to help people assemble new 3D concepts from prompts, images, drawings, and existing files.
Coming in 2027
NOT LIVE
Search models and geometries from vendor CAD repositories, 3D-printing libraries, VFX libraries, and projects developed by The Menderi. Find source links, license information, materials, print settings, and assembly instructions where available.
Coming in 2027
NOT LIVE
Describe or upload what you need through text, voice, drawings, photographs, 2D CAD, or 3D files. Mendr AI is being developed to search for matching components, propose connections and assemblies, and prepare preliminary OBJ and STL outputs with fabrication guidance.
Outputs may require professional review, refinement, and fabrication support.
Coming in 2027
NOT LIVE
Coming in 2027
NOT LIVE
Four advisors extend the team’s expertise across mechanical engineering, medical devices, data systems, biomechanics, robotics, and machine learning.
Our coalition connects personalized assistive technology projects to disability services, equipment reuse, clinical guidance, engineering, testing, and fabrication.
The Menderi operates a 20,000-square-foot Digital Foundry and Design Lab in Oakland, bringing design, prototyping, fabrication, and production under one roof. Participant-led ideas can move from scanning and modeling into physical testing and refinement within one working environment.
Laser scanning, photogrammetry, CAD, and virtual reality tools.
Small and large-format SLA and FDM 3D printing, electronics, and physical computing.
CNC mills and lathes, metal machining, and wood fabrication.
Mold-making and casting in resins, elastomers, plaster, cement, and ceramics.
Early Development
Early work toward adaptable prosthetic and assistive device kits designed for local fabrication and repair in war-torn regions.
Concept Rendering
