NextStep Robotics
Baltimore-based startup developing AMBLE, an FDA-cleared wearable ankle robot for gait rehabilitation in stroke patients with foot drop.
NextStep Robotics is a Baltimore, Maryland-based medical robotics company founded in April 2017 by Brad Hennessie (Co-Founder and CEO) and Richard Macko (Chief Scientific Officer). The company was born out of research conducted at the Baltimore Veterans Medical Center, where Hennessie worked as a research intern alongside neurologist Richard Macko studying stroke rehabilitation technology.
The company's flagship product is AMBLE (Adaptive Mobility and Balance Learning Exoskeleton), a lightweight, untethered wearable ankle robot designed to treat foot drop — a condition affecting approximately 30% of the roughly 800,000 people who suffer strokes in the United States annually. AMBLE detects gait events in real time and provides graded dorsiflexion assistance to retrain foot lift and improve walking patterns. The device is used under therapist supervision in clinical rehabilitation settings and is registered with the FDA as a Class I exercise device, allowing it to be sold to clinics without full FDA premarket approval.
NextStep Robotics completed three years of National Institutes of Health (NIH)-funded clinical trials through 2024. Published trial results demonstrated that patients continued to improve in key walking measures for months — and in some cases more than 17 months — after training ended, a finding that challenges traditional recovery timelines for chronic stroke. The company subsequently filed for additional FDA authorization to expand AMBLE's indicated uses beyond exercise.
As of 2024, the company has raised over $6 million in total funding from 11 investors, including the National Institutes of Health (via NINDS cooperative agreements totaling $5.4M), Ecphora Capital, the University System of Maryland Momentum Fund ($250,000), Abell Foundation, and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. NextStep has also formed strategic partnerships with medical device companies Biodex Medical Systems and Simbex.
The company employs approximately 11 people and is headquartered at 300 W Pratt Street, Suite 200, Baltimore, Maryland 21201. Its primary target market is physical therapy and rehabilitation clinics treating neurological conditions including stroke, spinal cord injury (SCI), and traumatic brain injury (TBI). Future development plans include upper-extremity robotic rehabilitation devices.
Primary type & automation activities this supplier delivers:
AMBLE
Untethered wearable ankle robot providing real-time dorsiflexion assistance to retrain gait in stroke patients with foot drop.
Contact NextStep Robotics
WEBSITE
https://www.nextsteprobo.comPHONE
+1 443-869-3518HEADQUARTERS
United States
Company Facts
Founded
2017
Primary Role
Manufacturer
Company Size
-
Primary Region
North America
Annual Sales
-
Funding Stage
-
Funding Total
-
Certifications & Memberships
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