Until now, wheelchair users have been putting up with the pain of turning. When a user need to turn, he or she has to put more strength to the side of wheel which he or she want it to turn. Sometime even stopping to do so, but with Reto Togni’s invention called Reagiro, it features a first-of-its-kind fully mechanical, patented steering system that lets the user to control turning by simply leaning to the sides, much like how skateboards are maneuvered.
To achieve, the backrest and the front castor wheels, along with its associated linkages and whatnot, has to be redesigned. The backrest is now ergonomic and laterally tilt-able, thus allowing it to tilt along with the user leaning motion and it is connected via axle and cables to the front castor wheels, which is now steerable as a set as opposed to individual spinning castor. Through push and pull motion, leaning will cause the front wheels to turn and thereby effectively pulling a steer.
In other words, the backrest of Reagiro is essentially a steering wheel of sort. With Reagiro, the user can now keep moving forward, regulating his or her arms strength as per normal and simply lean to where he or she intend to turn. There’s no need to brake or stop the wheelchair which means a more intuitive experience and also, lesser strain on the arms.
It is brilliant invention that we can see it being adapted to electric-powered wheelchair which currently uses joystick as a control means. I mean it could, not necessary it will be. Have a look of the Reagiro in action in the video made by Vocativ.
Images: Reto Togni.
via Yanko Design.
