Medical products move slowly. The first wheelchair was invented in 6th-century China. That basic design lasted until the first collapsible "X-frame" model was developed in 1933. If there's a logical continuum, we are around 1,400 years away from the next major breakthrough in wheelchair technology. At least we were, until New Zealand design student Oscar Fernandez submitted his entry to the Dyson Design Competition.
Fernandez's product isn't a wheelchair, exactly. It's a motorized add-on called the IWA (Independent Wheelchair Assist) that attaches to one, turning it into a small automobile.
People can use their manual chairs while at home, then rev up the IWA, instead of a separate motor scooter, if they need to get out of the house. Fernandez's design may look futuristic and slick – like something Tron would use if he ended up in an assisted-living center – but it was inspired by a very common problem, and one that's deeply personal for its inventor.
"My Grandfather has been in a wheelchair for 62 years, suffering an accident at the age of 20. In his older age, Grandad lost his ability to transfer from his wheelchair into his mobility scooter to access his local community and interact with the rest of society." says Fernandez on the project website.
The IWA isn't just a concept car for the geriatric set. It is the product of an intense design effort that started with a four-month-long research phase where Fernandez learned from people who lived with wheelchairs. He actually spent a week confined to one himself and says the experience was actually harder psychologically than physically and adds, "After a week or so I was pretty good at using the wheelchair, but I hated always having my neck popped back and having to talk up to people in social situations."
He then proceeded to sketch up solutions to the problems he experienced, created rough mockups to test ergonomics, and made working prototypes to prove the functional concept. Once Fernandez settled on the basic design, he used a laser cutter and 3-D printer to create the structural elements of the model and assembled the final product with old-fashioned hand tools. The IWA has been thoughtfully considered as a medical device, but looks cool enough that even the able-bodied would take a second look.
Fernandez now works for a design firm and handles projects for Honda, BMW, and Samsung. He credits the competition for helping advance his design thinking skills, but admits he only made 76 working models, an order of magnitude less than Dyson's record.
The IWA satisfies a huge need. In the 2010 census it was reported that 3.3 million Americans over the age of 15 use wheelchairs. In 2011, the market for powered wheelchairs was $1.1 billion, but is projected to nearly quadruple in size by 2018 as baby boomers start to retire and need assistive technologies.
Products like sneakers, gadgets, and cars have teams of people working on them, while humble, helpful products like motorized wheelchairs are often neglected.
Inventor James Dyson, knight of the British Empire and king of vacuums, seeks to change that. His charitable trust established the James Dyson Award, which is an international student design competition meant to encourage the next generation of design engineers to "be creative, challenge and invent." Dyson is concerned about the future of western countries to design and build things and developed a six-word creative brief (and cash prize) to encourage students to "Design something that solves a problem."
James Dyson has made a career out of redefining industries that other designers have written off as boring or solved. His belief is that design goes beyond aesthetics into how a device works at a technical level. He is, after all, the man who made 5,127 prototypes of his famous vacuum cleaner before he sold the first unit. With the IWA it seems the Dyson Award has found a way to harness young designers' passion for flash in service of the needs of their elders.
All gallery images: James Dyson Award