Hong Kong team wins silver medal at ‘Bionic Olympics’ with innovative wheelchair design
A group of undergraduate students and faculty members at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology developed the wheelchair, which can climb stairs and cross tough terrain
An electric wheelchair that can scale stairs while facing forwards has helped disabled wheelchair user Ng Cho Yu win silver in the inaugural Cybathlon, the world’s first Olympics for bionic athletes.
A group of undergraduate students and faculty members at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology developed the wheelchair in less than eight months. At the Cybathlon contest, held in Zurich, the multifunctional wheelchair helped Ng navigate through six kinds of obstacles including the final challenge of climbing stairs.
Watch: Hong Kong students’ wheelchair design in action
The university looks to make the prototype available on the market in four years as the city’s most affordable stair-climbing wheelchair, with the projected price hovering just under HK$100,000 per machine.
Professor Robin Ma Lok Wang, the principal engineer on the project, said the winning wheelchair is equipped with a durable tank-like tracks which allowed Ng to safely climb stairs while facing forwards.
“All the current stair-climbing wheelchairs use their backsides to climb the stairs, which is a way to place the centre of gravity on the front of the wheelchairs” he said. But he said this design not only compromises user’s ability to see what lies in front of him, but it also makes it very difficult for a user to control the machine.
Ma said the new design was “simple and intuitive”, and allowed Ng to climb up and down a pair of 3-step staircases in less than 2 minutes in the Cybathlon.