Wheelchair bound persons have limited reach, making many day-to-day tasks (such as reaching an overhead cabinet) extremely difficult. Our goal is to design a wheelchair (or a modification to existing chairs), which would allow the user to achieve a standing position while still in the chair. The chair would be appropriate only for those persons who have upper body mobility. The “stand-up” operation should be human-powered; in other words, the user will provide the power source.
Additional considerations and constraints were applied to the wheelchair design for after this main goal is met. For portability, the chair should be fold-able by one or two people and, when fully compacted, should fit inside a standard car trunk. The chair should be maneuverable and fit through standard-sized doorways; many older buildings have doorways that are slightly too narrow for most wheelchairs. Finally, the cost of parts and hypothetical labor for manufacturing the chair should be limited to a range that’s affordable for our target audience. Existing standing wheelchair models, many of which are powered electrically, range from $3,000 to $5,000 or higher, so our target will be to design the chair at a fraction of that cost.