About

2.7 million US adults are wheelchair users and unfortunately there are many different accessibility issue people face daily. Through talking to stakeholders and independent research ascending and descending ramps of varying grades was identified as an important accessibility concern to address. Current technologies do not adequately address the challenges of ascending and descending inclines/declines. Our team is designing a wheelchair add-on device to help people who use wheelchairs to ascend and descend incline/decline.

Team Mission Statement

Through the application of our mechanical engineering knowledge, our mission is to make areas that are difficult to navigate more accessible for people with limited mobility by creating a device designed to assist manual wheelchair users in ascending and descending inclines and declines. The focus of this project is to assist people who use wheelchairs or are considering using a wheelchair and allow accessibility to a  greater number of locations. Additionally, we believe that people should not be limited in their accessibility based on their ability, or socio-economic status.  

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How we plan to achieve our goal

Allow Forward Motion We want our device to be able to increase the speed of the wheelchair. This will help reduce the strain on the user’s arms.	Allow Backward Motion We want our device to be able to decrease the speed of the wheelchair, which can be particularly helpful when going down steep inclines.	Eliminate Sudden Movements By eliminating sudden movements in the transitions of different states (i.e. going forward to slowing down), we will provide a comfortable, stable, and steady ride for the user.