“There are lots of hoops to jump through if you’re going to be a medical device,” says cofounder Arron Acosta. “Instead, we’re trying to create a feeling of human flight, and playing with gravity.”

Strong Arm Technologies is working on a vest that would ­assist people who lift heavy stuff for a living. The vest both promotes more ergonomic lifting and uses a system of built-in ­cables to transfer weight to parts of the body that can better handle it, like the hips and legs. The company, founded by a pair of Rochester Institute of Technology students, recently won admission into the MassChallenge competition for start-ups in Boston.