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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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 … <\/p>\n