hi all:
anyone catch tomorrows world lastnight ?
there was one piece about an add-on device for standard manual wheelchairs
which turns them in to powered off-roaders.
from what I could tell it was a single front wheel which clipped under the
front of the chair lifting the chairs own 2 front wheels clear of the ground
and making the whole thing in to a tryke.
the device weighed in at 20 kg (with battery) could do a top speed of 17
KMph and could do upto 35k on a 4 hour battery charge.
it could mannage gradients of upto 11% - whats that in real language ? about
1 in 10? not all that great then, they had the woman who won gold in the
womens 200 metre wheelchair race at
sidney (not tany) test it out and she managed to turn it over on a muddy
banking which I wouldn't of thought was all that clever and they also let a
load of kids loose on it who thought it was a great plaything.
no mention of a price.
I guess it could be a useful, more portable alternative to a power chair
when out and about on a ramble in the lakes or some such but as the guy who
invented it jumped out of his chair fitted the device and jumped back in
again it would seem only to be suitable for people capable of doing just
that.
you can read more including a link to the company who make the add-on on the
Tomorrows World website
http://www.bbc.co.uk/science/tw/items/010509_offroadtrike.shtml
Adrian Higginbotham.
SURFACE (Salford University, Research Focus on Accessible Environments).
tel: (44_-161-2953949,
fax (44)-161-2955011,
Email [log in to unmask]
textphone (44)-161-2953599.
web: http://www.scpm.salford.ac.uk/surface/
----------End of Message----------
Archives for the Accessibuilt discussion list are located at
www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/accessibuilt.html
You can JOIN or Leave the list from this web page as well
|