There are about 1.7 million Americans that rely on a wheelchair or scooter for mobility. 90% of the people on a wheelchair use a manual device; only allowing for mobility while in a sitting position. Although electric wheelchairs give room for moving while standing or sitting, these devices are often too expensive for the average consumer. The novel manual standing wheelchair from the Shirley Ryan AbilityLab is an affordable option that gives users the ability to stand and move about while on the wheelchair.
Design and Features
The manual standing wheelchair has all the ergonomic features expected of a wheelchair. It comes with a soft cushion as well as a backrest that affords the users maximum comfort. The wheelchair’s ergonomics is extended to the smooth hand drive that makes it easy for users to propel the device. This minimizes the risk of a shoulder injury; a common occurrence among manual wheelchair users. The hand-drive mechanism facilitates smooth propelling of the wheelchair while requiring minimal effort on the part of the user.
Asides the smooth movement features, the wheelchair enables the users to stand upright for as long as they can. The same hand-drive mechanism is responsible for lifting the users into a standing position. Once they get to the desired height, users can lock the propeller into place and further wheeling of the hand-drive mechanism would help them move about. This innovative device from the Shirley Ryan AbilityLab is the first manual wheelchair that allows for mobility in the sitting and standing positions.
To guarantee safety and security, the wheelchair comes with a lap belt and knee restraint that ensures users are fastened to the device at all times, whether during standing, semi-standing or sitting positions. There are also anti-tip wheels that deploy whenever the user propels the wheelchair into a standing position.
Who’s the wheelchair meant for?
Any of the 1.7 million Americans that require a mobility device can benefit from this unique wheelchair. For most of us, simple acts like picking up an item from the grocery store shelf, looking our coworkers in the eye and reaching for items on overhead cabinets are taken for granted. However, many people that are confined to a wheelchair have to enlist help to do these. This device from the Shirley Ryan AbilityLab could be a life-changer for these people.
The main target of the manufacturers are people with mobility-limiting conditions such as spina bifida, multiple sclerosis, spinal cord injury, and cerebral palsy.
Pricing info
The wheelchair is yet to be released for purchase by the general public. The company received some form of grant from the National Institute on Disability, Independent Living, and Rehabilitation Research. It is hoped that the device would be made available to the general public soon. You can visit the official website of the Shirley Ryan AbilityLab for more information.
Startup
A startup or start-up is a company or project undertaken by an entrepreneur to seek, develop, and validate a scalable business model. While entrepreneurship refers to all new businesses, including self-employment and businesses that never intend to become registered, startups refer to new businesses that intend to grow large beyond the solo founder. At the beginning, startups face high uncertainty and have high rates of failure, but a minority of them do go on to be successful and influential. Some startups become unicorns; that is privately held startup companies valued at over US$1 billion.
Actions
Startups typically begin by a founder (solo-founder) or co-founders who have a way to solve a problem. The founder of a startup will begin market validation by problem interview, solution interview, and building a minimum viable product (MVP), i.e. a prototype, to develop and validate their business models. The startup process can take a long period of time (by some estimates, three years or longer), and hence sustaining effort is required. Over the long term, sustaining effort is especially challenging because of the high failure rates and uncertain outcomes. Having a business plan in place outlines what to do and how to plan and achieve an idea in the future. Typically, these plans outline the first 3 to 5 years of your business strategy.
Design principles
Models behind startups presenting as ventures are usually associated with design science. Design science uses design principles considered to be a coherent set of normative ideas and propositions to design and construct the company's backbone. For example, one of the initial design principles is "affordable loss".
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