Raz Mobile Shower Commode Chairs

Raz products are mobility, toileting and bathing systems designed for caregivers, clinicians, and individuals with mobility impairments. They improve safety, positioning and accesibility during toileting, bathing and tub transfers though innovative designs.

The Challenge:

Raz engaged Inertia at varying stages of product maturity, ranging from late-stage concepts like the Zum to ground-up developments for the ART and Trakz platforms.   For the ART product, a legacy tilt system existed, but the requirement was to engineer a sophisticated “tilt-in-space” mechanism from scratch. For Trakz, Raz sought to enter a new market segment where they previously had no footprint. The primary technical hurdle across these projects was developing high-performance technology while navigating an extremely crowded patent landscape to avoid existing IP. Commercially, the products needed to outperform market incumbents in categories critical to end-users and clinicians: user comfort, tilt effort, physical footprint, safety, and hygiene/cleanability.

The Approach:

Inertia utilized a ground-up engineering strategy, beginning with an exhaustive investigation of existing market solutions to define baseline requirements and identify architectural opportunities. We examined potential system architectures against relevant IP to ensure a “freedom to operate” path for Raz’s innovations. This stage involved purchasing and disassembling competitive products to understand current market limitations and ensure the new Trakz and ART designs provided superior comfort and effort reduction for the user.

To de-risk the development of these complex mechanical systems, we prototyped and tested critical subsystems, specifically focusing on the mechanical tilt and frame integrity, before moving to complete product builds. The development process integrated extensive user testing to identify and resolve potential safety and usability issues early in the design cycle. To ensure long-term clinical reliability and regulatory compliance, we performed comprehensive strength and durability testing on all finalized assemblies.

The Outcome:

The collaboration resulted in three products that Raz is currently successfully selling. The project delivered fully validated product platforms for the ART and Trakz lines, featuring optimized mechanical tilt efforts and refined ergonomics. A major highlight of the engagement was the improvement of the client’s IP portfolio with three specific patents: one for the ART tilt lock, one for the Trakz bridge system, and one for the Trakz safety system, which Raz has branded as Zbrilok.

In addition to the primary chair designs, Inertia developed a new wheel that is now used on all of Raz’s self-propelled products. By systematically de-risking subsystems and validating against clinical-use cases, the partnership allowed Raz to expand its market reach while significantly improving user comfort and caregiver safety.