Reinventing the wheelchair
> A new Italian design called the MarioWay hopes to offer its users the freedom to get around and do simple tasks
seated so that “the organs in the upper part of the trunk are compressed”, while “almost the whole weight rests on the ischium” – the lower and back part of the hip bone.
This position “aggravates the pathologies of people with disabilities and results in other issues; digestive, respiratory, urinary or circulatory,” he said, adding it also causes leg muscles to waste away.
But for users of Vigentini’s invention, “the upper part of the trunk is straightened”, strengthening muscles which go unused in traditional wheelchairs.
The chair can go up to 20 kilometres an hour on a battery life of 30 kilometres.
It is equipped with “sensors that read the position of the body”, so that “if I move my upper body slightly forward, the MarioWay advances slightly,” said Flaviano Tarducci, the company’s business development manager.
“It’s the same to move backwards, while to go from side to side you move your pelvis slightly left or right,” he said.
The design means that tasks that have been very challenging for traditional wheelchair users – such as opening doors or carrying a glass of water to a table – can be carried out with relative ease. Vigentini hopes to help destigmatise the wheelchair, which has remained unchanged for nigh on a century. In the search for cool, his team has even swapped notes with a company that customises Harley Davidson motorbikes. Its thermallystrengthened hubs and handstitched seats are not cheap. The MarioWay went on sale a few weeks ago at 19,300 (RM97,914), while a standard electric wheelchair costs between 1,500 (RM7,610)and 30,000 (RM152,198). But Vigentini said he and his team are “doing everything we can” to lower the price to around 10,000 (RM50,732.65) by signing a deal with an industrial production partner. And one day he hopes able-bodied people will use MarioWay too as a means of getting about town – much like a bicycle or Segway – which could help make mobility differences, between those who are disabled and those who are not, a thing of the past. – AFPRelaxnews