IIT Madras develops country's lightest wheelchair

Chennai, July 16 (IANS) The Indian Institute of Technology (IIT)-Madras, on Wednesday, announced the launch of YD One -- India's lightest active wheelchair and also the country's first indigenously developed precision-built monu-tube rigid-frame wheelchair.

The YD One was launched in the IIT Madras campus on Wednesday in the presence of Chief Guest Surgeon Vice Admiral Anupam Kapur, Nau Sena Medal, Director General Hospital Services (Armed Forces); V. Kamakoti, IIT Madras Director; Ravinder Singh, ICMR Scientist; Project Coordinator Manish Anand, Assistant Professor, IIT Madras.

"YD One is the country's first indigenously developed precision-built mono-tube rigid-frame wheelchair, designed to match the world's best," an official statement said.

YD One can be fully customised for each user's body, posture and daily mobility needs.

Built as per international stardards, its ultra-lightweight and precision-engineered design delivers maximum strength and energy efficiency while making it effortless to lift, handle and stow in cars, autos or public transport.

The YD One is also easy to carry with a weight measuring about only nine kg.

According to V. Kamakoti, IIT Madras Director, "Innovation is about a lightweight chat today. Lightweight wheelchair that has been taken from 17 kg to 8.5 kg. We have brought in about 50 per cent weight reduction. And we also got, significantly good number of research scholars plus, multiple disciplines, interdisciplinary work that has happened across mechanical, metallurgy, etc. We have used an interesting composite of carbon fibre plus aluminum together to reduce this."

Vice Admiral Anupam Kapur, Nau Sena Medal recipient and Director General Hospital Services (Armed Forces), said that the World Health Organisation recently came up with data that nearly 15 per cent of the global population suffers from some form of disability currently and this number will only increase from current 1.3 to 1.9 billion at present to about 2.5 million by 2058.

--IANS

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