The Wheelchair Of The Future Is Like A Bicycle Rowboat

The problem with current wheelchairs? They’re not versatile enough for developing countries’ unpaved roads, steep hillsides and generally handicap unfriendly buildings. Enter the Leveraged Freedom Chair, a more powerful wheelchair controlled by levers that moves like a mountain bike.

The LFC is made entirely from bike parts and works similarly to a mountain bike. The wheelchair uses a lever system to manoeuvre with different grips offering different benefits – a high grip gives more torque, a low grip increases angular velocity – sorta like switching gears on a bike. Bonus points: any old bike shop will be able to repair it too.

The team behind the LFC actually built two models of the wheelchair, a version for developing countries and another for first-world countries. Buyers of the first-world model (better construction, lighter, etc) charitably pay for the developing countries’ too. $US3000 gets you the first-world LFC and gives three developing countries models away to those in need. [Core77]