AU Venture Studio designs wheelchair to enable paraplegics stand up once again

Though such wheelchair is available in the global market,the one designed by the centre here would be available at a nominal cost compared to that available in the US and European countries. While the price of standing wheelchair in Europe is reported to be Rs 6 lakh,innovators here say the one designed by them would cost around Rs 5,000.

The wheelchair,which can be folded and carried with the paraplegic persons in buses,trains and aeroplanes,has been designed by Kinnar Shah,a paraplegic himself.

Thirty-nine-year-old Shah heads a team of four final-year BTech (mechanical) students of LJ Institute of Technology. He was assisted in the project by mechanical engineering students of IIT,Gandhinagar.

Shah said that once its commercial production began,it would give a lot of relief to paraplegic persons who could not stand on their own. Besides developing self-confidence among them,it would also help them medically and physically as a few minutes of standing and sitting for a few times every day would improve their blood circulation as also digestive system,he said.

“It would be very useful at an affordable cost,” said Vikas Pandey,one of the LJIT students assisting Shah in the project. Pandey said they were working to add reading lamp and other accessories in the wheelchair.

Addressing mediapersons,Ahmedabad University chairman Praful Anubhai said the university had got the patent registered and was looking for investors for its commercial production.

The centre has also come out with other useful ventures. A website,www.cruxbot.com,has been developed by Nirmit Parikh. The portal helps preparing summary of a long article on the Internet,thus reducing information overload and it could be useful to journalists and academicians.

Another team led by Vikas Johiya,a graduate from the National Institute of Design,has come out with very light bags and accessories used by professional photographers for keeping their cameras.

The bags with metallic material,Johiya claims,would also protect the camera from any damage even if it fell on the ground.