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Wheelchairs Now Going Where None Have Gone Before

By Rain Noe - September 14, 2012

in Cars

Your average car is designed to drive on a paved road, and your average wheelchair is designed to roll across smooth surfaces. But just as 4x4 manufacturers design vehicles for alternate terrains, a host of inventors have begun wondering why wheelchairs oughtn't do the same. Handicapped folks, after all, do not live only in cities; and those in rural areas may not even have paved driveways.

A company called TC Mobility produces the Tank Chair, an off-road, all-weather wheelchair that "conquers streams, mud, snow, sand, and gravel, allowing you to get back to nature. Using rubber tracks and high-torque electric motors, TankChair will take you anywhere and back."

Here's Tank Chair inventor Brad Soden buzzing around on his other creation, the Speedster, which is made for less challenging terrain yet, as the name suggests, higher speeds:

UK-based company Molten Rock produces an off-road wheelchair called the BOMA 7, which is less tank and more mountain bike. While less ruggedized than the Tank Chair, it has the added advantage of being easier to transport via minivan or station wagon.

Going more extreme, a robotics company called Howe and Howe Technologies developed their Ripchair model specifically for a disabled veteran customer. (While this video from last year notes that the chair is in production, we were not able to find it on their site, indicating it may have remained a one-off.)

The craziest wheelchair action we've seen is also the most recent. A UK-based creative nonprofit called Freewheeling sponsored the following video, called "Creating the Spectacle." Artist and wheelchair user Sue Austin cruises around underwater on a specially-modified rig with a scuba apparatus. The agility the chair is able to achieve is pretty stunning:

With this last one, you may be asking yourself "Why in a wheelchair?" as it clearly violates the form-follows-function tenet. But that is precisely why they made the video (which will actually evolve into a series of underwater events done from the wheelchair). "The [standard] wheelchair is one of the most ubiquitous images of disability," the organization writes. "This work will focus on leaving a legacy of attitudinal change through the creation of surprising and unexpected juxtapositions which present empowered and empowering images."

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manish batra

9 years ago

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Hey, very nice site. I came across this on Google, and I am stoked that I did. I will definitely be coming back here more often. Wish I could add to the conversation and bring a bit more to the table, but am just taking in as much info as I can at the moment. Thanks for sharing. Transport Wheelchairs Keep Posting:)

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Nick Ruggles

11 years ago

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Very interesting point, I wouldn't of thought of such a thing Marc, when you get the time I would love to be enlightened as to where you think this would be applicable.

Best regards, Nick
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Marc of Wheelchairs

12 years ago

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The first image could be a way of getting PWDs back in military service. Well of course not in actual combat but there are a lot of things you can still do with that kind of wheelchair.
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Robert Bliss

12 years ago

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Hello, As a disabled Vietnam Veteran, I wonder if the Veterans Affairs Dept. would pay for one of your wheelchairs. Do you know if any of the these have been ordered by the VA?

Thanks,
Bob Bliss
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