Robin Koops

The man who challenged diabetes

In 2004 who was working and thinking about the shots that he needs to take thoughout his life to stay healthy. He knew this was not how life should be for him and other people with diabetes. Always an inventor with a mind that’s forever making connections, he started calculating, writing down formulas, sketching graphs. A device came to mind, a device that hadn’t been invented yet. This is how the very first artificial pancreas came to be. An easy yet brilliant invention, it’d measure the sugar level of the patient. Too high than the patient would get a shot of insulin, too low than the patient needed a shot of glucagon. A revolutionary device. But who dared to test it? Koops himself, of course. This is how the Robopump came to be. Join us at TEDxAmsterdam and learn more from a man who is not just an inventor, but a revolutionary inventor who made the life of people suffering from diabetes so much better. This is a man who embodies Planet Act, he dared to challenge current medical technologies and took it upon himself to create something that hadn’t been done before. Hear his story and get inspired by a man that did not accept the life he had been given.

About Robin Koops

At the age of just 30, Koops was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes. His doctors informed him that life as he knew would change forever. Their advice was to just take it easy. But that’s not what Koops did. Koops is an inventor and builder of machines, he worked on numerous projects for supermarket-chain Albert Heijn and big names in the meat and farming industry. His diagnosis was a big shock, it meant a complete new way of living. No longer could he just cook and eat what he wanted, he had to read all the ingredients, measure it all to ensure that his insulin levels stay stable.

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