Indias first standing wheel chair developed by IIT Madras
Posted on: 06/Nov/2019 9:39:58 AM
Standing wheel chair!! Sound’s incredible right!! Yes, it is true.
The superb piece of news is IIT M or Indian Institute of Technology Madras had associated with Phoenix Medical Systems and with the support from UK based Wellcome Trust, has now launched India’s first standing wheel chair.
On Tuesday, this standing wheel chair named ‘Arise’ was launched officially in the presence of union minister for social justice and empowerment, Mr. Thaawarchand Gehlot.
It is superb to note that this standing wheelchair would enable a differently able person to shift from sitting to standing position and vice-versa on their own. At a cost of just Rs 15000, this ‘Arise’ could be highly useful for wide range of people as it is affordable. I
It is worthy to note that this standing wheelchair has been designed in 3 stages. Information is early prototype that was tested by differently able bodied people focused on reducing the effort expended by the user to actuate it from sitting to standing position and vice-versa. Gas spring prototype was used to achieve this.
Point to be taken into account is in the final stage this standing wheel chair was tested by more than 50 people with spinal injuries. People expressed their happiness regarding the wheel chair and said the wheelchair was stable in the outdoor use in the rural places and on the uneven terrains etc.
The minister for social justice and empowerment later appreciated the efforts made by IITM researchers in designing standing wheelchair. He highlighted the efficiency and cost effectiveness of the standing wheelchair and said he had never come across such a type of standing wheelchair. To suit the requirements of the users, Arise has got safety features and adjustable dimensions.
As per the MD of Phoenix Medical Systems, Mr. Sashi Kumar, the interlocking system present in Arise makes sure that wheelchair remains in the locked state if the knee block is not in position.
According to Sujatha Srinivasan, head R2D2 IITM, the R2D2 cell at IIT Madras that designed this standing wheelchair would work towards creating awareness about the products suitability, availability, necessary fitting and training etc.
