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When Emile Maamary talks about Steadiwear, there’s a spark in his voice that catches your attention right away. He’s not pushing another shiny gadget or hiding behind buzzwords. He’s speaking from a place that feels real, talking about giving control back to hands that have forgotten what stillness feels like. And he means it.
Steadiwear, a Canadian medical device company co-founded by Maamary and Mark Elias, was born from something personal. Both founders have loved ones living with hand tremors caused by conditions like Parkinson’s or essential tremor. Watching someone struggle to hold a spoon or sign their name does something to you. It shakes your assumptions of what “independence” really means. That’s what moved them to create something that could stop the shaking without surgery, drugs or the robotic coldness of overengineering.
Their answer? A glove that stabilizes tremors using magnetics and physics instead of batteries and wires. It looks simple, but the technology inside is like a physics experiment shrunk into a wristband. The device uses a patented magnetic spring system that reacts to tremors and dampens them in real time. No power source, no charging, no app to sync or code to update. The user’s own tremor energy powers the mechanism that calms it. It’s science with a touch of poetry.
“We wanted to design something that was instant, safe and dignified,” Maamary says. “Something people could wear and forget it’s there until they notice they can finally drink their coffee without spilling.”
That’s exactly what’s been happening. Steadiwear’s customers have been doing things many of us take for granted: writing legibly again, applying makeup, even playing instruments again after a decade. Over 3,500 units have already found their way onto trembling wrists around the world. Each small victory is a story in motion. A clarinet played after ten years of silence, lipstick applied straight for the first time in years . . . these moments matter more than marketing metrics ever could. They’re proof that clever engineering can feel personal when it’s done with empathy. And that empathy runs deep in Steadiwear’s design. When Maamary and his team looked for answers, they didn’t stop at medical textbooks or traditional prosthetics. They looked up . . . literally.
The idea actually came from skyscrapers. Those tall buildings that survive earthquakes? They’re built to sway safely instead of snapping. Inside them are special systems that absorb the shaking and keep the structure steady. Steadiwear took that same idea and shrunk it down to fit on a wrist. “We adapted those same principles into a compact, wearable form,” Maamary explains. Engineers took the kind of ideas that normally hold up cities and applied them to human hands. The result was something steady, subtle and quietly brilliant.
Unlike many medical devices that require calibration or daily maintenance, this glove works straight out of the box. Slide it on and it does its thing. The company has spent years refining prototypes through testing and user feedback, turning each version into something smaller, lighter and more effective. The third iteration of the Steadiwear glove now works for roughly 83 per cent of users. And that number keeps improving.
“People told us they wanted it smaller, lighter and comfortable enough to wear all day,” Maamary says. “So, we listened.” That loop between user and engineer is where the real innovation happens. You can feel it in every update they release.
Of course, shaking up an industry that hasn’t changed much in decades comes with friction. Medical devices live in a maze of regulations, funding barriers and skeptical gatekeepers. “We had challenges across the board,” Maamary admits. “Who’s going to pay for it? Which market do we go after first? How do we keep it affordable while improving performance?”
Their solution was the same as their device’s design philosophy: stay practical, stay human. Each version of the glove has gotten better while keeping the price steady or even dropping it. The first one launched in 2020 at around $1,000. Today’s version sells for $800. “We haven’t raised the price even as we’ve made it better,” Maamary says. That’s not a tech startup talking. That sounds more like a team that is genuinely driven by people, not profit margins.
Steadiwear’s story proves that innovation doesn’t only live in Silicon Valley. The company is proudly Canadian, supported by groups like the Ontario Brain Institute, AgeWell Network, and Baycrest Hospital’s Centre for Aging and Brain Health Innovation. They’ve also worked with the International Essential Tremor Foundation and U.S. partners like the American Association of Retired Persons and the Veterans Affairs network. Theirs is a network built on collaboration, not competition.
And then there’s Toyota. Through the Toyota Mobility Foundation, Steadiwear recently secured funding to strengthen its supply chain and explore reimbursement pathways across new markets. “This is going to help us scale smarter,” Maamary says, “and ensure the people who need our device can truly reach it.”
That kind of partnership gives momentum to everything else in motion. With fresh support, the team isn’t pausing to catch its breath. They’re already looking ahead, turning that boost into action. New hires, more engineers and a growing presence in clinics across North America . . . Steadiwear is gearing up for a major leap in 2026. The team’s next big goal: make the device available for insurance coverage across Canada and the U.S. That means patients could one day walk into a clinic, try the glove with their clinician, and take it home the same day without paying out of pocket.
There’s something quietly radical about Steadiwear’s story. It doesn’t come with flashy slogans or inflated promises. It’s grounded in human moments like someone finally signing their name without trembling. When you strip away the tech and patents, that’s what this company is really building: confidence.
It’s easy to get cynical in a world that’s obsessed with the next big thing. But every once in a while, a team like this comes along and reminds us that innovation does not have to be loud. It can hum quietly in the background while steadying the hand and heart, restoring something far more powerful than movement. Steadiwear isn’t curing tremors but it’s helping people live through them, with grace and strength intact. Maybe that’s what true innovation looks like: not chasing perfection, but creating balance where chaos once lived.
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