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Impact of COVID 19

Posted on Mar 25, 2020

Like all businesses around the world, we are feeling the impacts of COVID 19.  To keep you abreast of the impact, we’ve started this blog:

First post: 6-Mar-20

Last update: 25-Mar-20

  1. Parts
    • Computers: Advantech’s supply chain from Asia has been reinstated, however their California site is now closed.  We will be rationing Dexterit-E computer replacements until normal lead times are restored.
      • We have sufficient stock to manage the “normal” rate of computer failures and current production requirements.
      • We may need to delay shipping of Win10 Dexterit-E computers to customers requiring an upgrade to meet Win10 compliance.
  2. Lab Orders
    • Regular production has not been impacted.  We will do our best to advise customers with open purchase orders of any changes in our committed delivery.
    • Installation travel may become a challenge as borders close and employees returning from installations are put in obligatory quarantine.
      • as of 13-Mar-20, we have suspended all installations outside of Canada
      • as of 25-Mar-20, we have suspended all installations
  3. Kinarm Camp
    • We are hoping that travel restrictions will be relaxed in time to run Kinarm Camp in June.  We will continue to monitor the situation.
    • Each camper should assess their own travel risk individually based on their country of origin and current restrictions that may be in effect.
    • If the camp is cancelled, or if an attendee wishes to cancel their registration, a full refund will be offered.
  4. Support
    • as of 13-Mar-20, our support team is working from home.  Please continue to use the support@kinarm.com email.  We will endeavour to provide a first response within 24h.
  5. Phone Calls
    • Please use our regular phone numbers.  We have forward our key lines of X 1 (Sales), X2 (Support) and X3 (Accounting) to personal cell phones.
    • If you don’t reach a person, please send an email to any of sales@kinarm.com , support@kinarm.com or accounting@kinarm.com

Win10 Compliance

Posted on Feb 5, 2020

Advisory Notices:

Do NOT upgrade your Dexterit-E/GUI Computer to Windows 10 without our Upgrade Kit!

As the Dexterit-E computer is customized to run your Kinarm Lab, the Windows operating system cannot be upgraded to Windows 10 without adversely affecting your Kinarm Lab. Dexterit-E will NOT work.

For those of you who upgraded your Dexterit-E Computer after 1-Oct-18, please complete this questionnaire BT084 Win10 Upgrade Questionnaire.30-Jan-20 and contact sales@kinarm.com.  All customers in Japan will be provided with a kit through Miyuki Giken.

We kindly ask that you request the upgrade kit by 31-Jan-21.

If your Dexterit-E Computer is older than 1-Oct-18, and you want to upgrade to Windows 10, depending on the age of your Dexterit-E/GUI computer, you have one of two options:

Option 1: If your Dexterit-E Computer is PN 13108 or 13950 (see label on back of computer; looks like an Advantech ‘silver box’ computer), you can purchase our Upgrade Kit.

  • This kit will include a dedicated video card that has been tested to meet Kinarm requirements. (Win10 does not support our required video performance.)
  • If you have PN 13108, you also have the option of purchasing a dedicated back-up drive that was introduced in the 13950 model.

Option 2: If you have an older ‘black box’ GUI computer (PN 10885 or 11104), your computer cannot be upgraded and must be replaced. Contact: sales@kinarm.com for a quote for a Dexterit-E computer upgrade.

  • Alternatively, disconnect your Dexterit-E computer from the university’s network to meet their compliance requirements. Dexterit-E does not need an active connection to the internet to run.

Kinarm Camp 2020: Registration is now Closed.

Posted on Jan 13, 2020

Our 7th annual Kinarm Camp, will be held Monday, June 8 to Friday, June 12, 2020 in Kingston, Ontario.

The objective of the Camp is to provide focused training on Custom Task development for Kinarm Labs. The five day agenda is tailored to Basic Researchers and will provide hands-on learning on the use of MATLAB Simulink and Stateflow to develop Custom Task Programs for the KINARM Lab. New users, graduate students, and post docs are all invited to attend. Clinical researchers with an interest in Custom Task development are also welcome to attend.

The preliminary agenda can be viewed here: https://kinarm.com/download/kinarm-camp-agenda/

Attendance was limited to 16 registrants.  If you would like to be put on the waiting list please email: anne @ kinarm.com. 

Information on getting to Kingston is available here: Travelling to Kingston for Kinarm Camp  When making bookings, please note that camp ends at 12 pm on Friday.

The reading list is available here: https://kinarm.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/Kinarm-Camp-Reading-List.pdf 

This is what last year’s campers said about their experience:

As someone with minimal computer programming experience, I still found the KINARM camp workshops accessible. Over the course of 5 days, I was able to program my own custom task and I feel like I now have more confidence to experiment (and troubleshoot) with the functionality of simulink and stateflow on my own.
 
KINARM Camp provided me with the tools to feel confident with custom task programming. Every aspect of the camp was well thought out and the instructors were extremely knowledgeable and helpful.
 
KINARM Camp really helped me to take my training to the next level. The content taught was invaluable, and the exercises were practical and appropriate for all levels of KINARM expertise.
 
KINARM Camp indeed helped me to become a really good friend of KINARM software and hardware.
 
2019 Kinarm Campers

Kinarm: after 20 years, coming together under one brand

Posted on Jun 27, 2019

To our valued Kinarm Lab users, collaborators and followers,

Today, June 27, 2019 is the day we announce our new company name: Kinarm.

It has been nearly 20 years since the publication of the first paper disclosing the novel instrument invented by Dr. Stephen Scott of Queen’s University at Kingston to enable his own research program.  KINARM, or Kinesiological Instrument for Normal and Altered Reaching Movements, has since spawned hundreds of research articles, not just by Scott LIMB Lab, but also by the more than 95+ Kinarm labs around the world.

Last January, we surveyed many of our current users for your feedback and asked you: what name do you know us by?  The answer was simple and resounding: Kinarm is how we are known.  Thus started a process to rethink our brand and today we announce the first milestone in that process.

As of today, our company is united with our core product under one name: Kinarm.

We are also introducing our new logo!

The Kinarm wordmark takes its inspiration from the common paradigm of our products and the solution they provide to addressing your basic and clinical research questions on the brain.  It is inspired by neurons connecting to each other, and a user holding the Kinarm End-Point handle or arm in the Kinarm Exoskeleton, and reaching their arm to perform tasks.
The uppercase “A” is taken from the original KINARM logo, and creates a precision point representing our core values of precision and scientific rigor. The reaching arm of the “K” could be interpreted as a magnifying glass searching for answers.

Legally, we remain incorporated as BKIN Technologies Ltd., and thus you may notice the BKIN name used in legal statements and financial documents such as invoices.

What doesn’t change is our commitment to you, our customers.  You told us we are: “pushing the boundaries as leaders [with] comprehensive solutions [that are] precise; user-friendly for clinicians, and flexible for researchers.”

Thank-you for your trust; we will continue to deliver just that.

For the entire team at Kinarm,

Anne Vivian-Scott, President & CEO

 

Attending RehabWeek?

Posted on Jan 7, 2019

Customers of BKIN Technologies can receive preferential registration rates for the upcoming RehabWeek conference in Toronto, June 2019.

In order to apply the membership discount, please proceed as follows:

  • Choose that you are a member of IISART during the registration process (https://www.rehabweek.org/registration/)
  • Enter the company-specific code IISART-BKIN-182584
  • When asked which conference you mainly plan to attend, choose INRS. This does not mean you cannot attend other conferences during the RehabWeek, but it helps to allocate resources.

Please feel free to share the code.

World Stroke Congress visitors: please reach out

Posted on Oct 23, 2018

To all of the wonderful people who we met at World Stroke Congress in Montreal,

Please reach out to us if you have not heard from us.  The lead retrieval application has mysteriously “lost” our last 1.5 days of scans.  We are working with them to hopefully recover the data, but for the moment, we are regrettably without your contact information.

We look forward to hearing from you,

Anne Vivian-Scott & Paul St. John

avivianscott@bkintechnologies.com