KITE Research Institute

Rehabilitation scientists use KITE's 15+ specialized labs -- StairLab, WinterLab, ClimateLab, DriverLab, and others -- to design, develop, and test mobility devices, assistive technologies, and built-environment standards for people living with the effects of disability, illness, and aging.

ENABLE Model location

• Builder-side Interventions → Design Accessible Experiences
• Builder-side Interventions → Develop Accessible Implementations
• Builder-side Interventions → Test for Accessibility

What it is

KITE Research Institute is a world leader in complex rehabilitation research, with more than 125 scientists dedicated to improving the lives of people living with the effects of disability, illness, and aging. KITE -- an acronym for Knowledge, Innovation, Talent, Everywhere -- was established in 2019 as a rebranding of the Toronto Rehabilitation Institute’s research arm, with Institute Director Dr. Milos Popovic describing the shift: "We are no longer focusing exclusively on rehabilitation. We are embarking on a commercial sustainability program that capitalizes on our remarkable scientific and research capabilities."5

KITE is home to 118 total researchers, including 23 senior scientists, and more than 200 trainees and support staff, and is recognized as the top rehabilitation science research facility in the world.5 It is one of the principal research enterprises at the University Health Network (UHN), Canada's top medical research hospital, with more than $637 million in total annual research expenditures and 6,000 research team members. It is affiliated with the University of Toronto and located at 550 University Avenue in Toronto.1

KITE operates 15+ specialized labs, each simulating real-world conditions that disabled and aging people encounter. StairLab uses a force-plate-instrumented staircase with a robotic safety harness to study gait, balance, and fall mechanics -- producing research that has led to updated building codes for stairs and improved handrail designs.2 ClimateLab simulates temperatures from −20°C to +35°C to test winter clothing, footwear, and assistive technology for slip resistance and thermal safety.3 CareLab is a simulated hospital patient room where researchers develop technologies like the Pressure Injury Management and Education System (PrIME) and the ER StandEasy pole to help patients get in and out of bed independently.4 Additional labs include DriverLab, FallsLab, HomeLab, RampLab, StreetLab, WinterLab, Rehab Engineering Lab, Perception Lab, Movement Evaluation Lab, MotionBase, and SleepdB.1

Beyond lab research, KITE runs innovation programs like Creators Circle, a HealthTech incubator that helps "bold ideas become market-ready," and Kite Creates, which seeded the Adaptive Fashion Alliance, Canada (AFAC) -- a national initiative to coordinate the future of adaptive fashion, bringing together academia, retail, fashion design, start-up innovation, and individuals with lived experience.1

Why it matters

Disabled and aging people encounter poorly designed stairs, bathrooms, sidewalks, vehicles, hospital rooms, and winter gear every day. Without rigorous biomechanical research, builders of these environments rely on minimum-code compliance or guesswork (design). KITE's labs close the gap between lived experience and evidence-based design by measuring exactly how bodies move through environments and where designs fail.

KITE's research also feeds directly into product development and testing. In StairLab, for example, participants walk through bathrooms with soapy tubs, descend staircases while researchers perturb their balance, and grasp handrails of varying cross-sections -- all while motion-capture and force-plate systems record biomechanical data. This testing pipeline means products and building standards are validated against real human movement before they reach the people who depend on them.

Real-world example

StairLab research demonstrated that grab-bar grasp location during bathtub exits significantly affects fall risk, leading to evidence-based recommendations for grab-bar placement in residential and institutional bathrooms. The lab's findings have been cited by CBC, CTV National News, and the Toronto Star as examples of research that directly saves lives: "In Canada, the combined social and health care costs of falls have been estimated at $8.8 billion a year."2 Meanwhile, CareLab developed the Buddy Badge System (now commercialized as Hygienic Echo), a wearable device that reminds healthcare workers to wash their hands when entering or exiting patient areas -- a technology developed and tested in KITE's simulated hospital room before deployment in a dementia unit at Toronto Rehab.4

What care sounds like

• "We test handrail cross-sections against biomechanical data before recommending them for building codes."
• "Our robotic safety harness lets participants experience real stair-descent challenges while we capture exactly where the design fails."
• "We bring people with lived experience into the lab to test assistive technology prototypes under the conditions they'll actually encounter."

What neglect sounds like

• "We designed the staircase to code -- that's good enough."
• "We don't have the budget to test wheelchair ramps under icy conditions."
• "Clinical trials start after the product is already built -- we can't afford pre-clinical biomechanics research."

What compensation sounds like

• "I had to figure out on my own that this grab bar placement doesn't work for how I actually transfer."
• "Nobody tested whether this wheelchair works on Canadian winter sidewalks, so I just don't go out in winter."
• "The hospital bed rail isn't designed for one-handed use, so I've rigged my own system with a towel."

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