Wheelchair Design in Developing Countries 2007 Public Service Design Seminar Amos Winter, Graduate Student, Dept. of Mechanical Engineering Supported by Amy Smith, Senior Lecturer in Mechanical Engineering Introduction James is a teenager in Tanzania. As a young child, he was disabled by polio. His family cannot afford a wheelchair. James’s only means of transportation is crawling on the ground. He wears sandals on his hands for protection. James rarely leaves the house because his family is ashamed of him. While intelligent, James does not go to school because he is physically incapable and his family forbids it. James will grow up with no marketable skills and will most probably end up begging on the street. There are hundreds of children and youth like James who are either forced to stay in their home or crawl on the ground because appropriate and affordable wheelchair technology is not accessible. Well-intentioned organizations from the United States and Europe donate wheelchairs, but they are not designed for the rough conditions in rural East Africa, and often break down after just one or two months. Locally-made wheelchairs and other mobility aids provide a much more appropriate solution, but are relatively expensive and cannot compete with the donated chairs on price. Furthermore, many design improvements can be implemented to make them stronger, lighter and more maneuverable. A sound understanding of engineering concepts can be taught in the redesign of these chairs, benefiting the students doing the design work as well as the potential builders and users of the chairs. This document is a proposal for funds to establish a Public Service Design Seminar entitled Wheelchair Design in Developing Countries (WDDC). The purpose of the class is to educate MIT students about engineering and cultures in the developing world through the innovation of appropriate wheelchair technology. I am proposing this class because I believe that MIT is in the unique position to solve the problem of appropriate wheelchair technology. By combining the resources, brainpower, and credibility of MIT with the
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Wheelchair Design in Developing Countries
2007 Public Service Design Seminar
Amos Winter, Graduate Student, Dept. of Mechanical Engineering
Supported by Amy Smith, Senior Lecturer in Mechanical Engineering
Introduction
James is a teenager in Tanzania. As a young child, he was disabled by polio. His family
cannot afford a wheelchair. James’s only means of transportation is crawling on the
ground. He wears sandals on his hands for protection. James rarely leaves the house
because his family is ashamed of him. While intelligent, James does not go to school
because he is physically incapable and his family forbids it. James will grow up with no
marketable skills and will most probably end up begging on the street.
There are hundreds of children and youth like James who are either forced to stay in their
home or crawl on the ground because appropriate and affordable wheelchair technology is
not accessible. Well-intentioned organizations from the United States and Europe donate
wheelchairs, but they are not designed for the rough conditions in rural East Africa, and
often break down after just one or two months. Locally-made wheelchairs and other
mobility aids provide a much more appropriate solution, but are relatively expensive and
cannot compete with the donated chairs on price. Furthermore, many design
improvements can be implemented to make them stronger, lighter and more
maneuverable. A sound understanding of engineering concepts can be taught in the
redesign of these chairs, benefiting the students doing the design work as well as the
potential builders and users of the chairs.
This document is a proposal for funds to establish a Public Service Design Seminar
entitled Wheelchair Design in Developing Countries (WDDC). The purpose of the class is
to educate MIT students about engineering and cultures in the developing world through
the innovation of appropriate wheelchair technology. I am proposing this class because I
believe that MIT is in the unique position to solve the problem of appropriate wheelchair
technology. By combining the resources, brainpower, and credibility of MIT with the
experience of established community partners already making chairs in developing
countries, wheelchair technology can be advanced to fully suit user needs.
WDDC will inspire students by providing a significant real-world engineering application
and showing them the power they have to improve the lives of others. During the course,
students will conceive appropriate wheelchair design solutions using sound engineering
practices while learning about cultural, economic, and resource considerations in the
developing world. The technology produced in the class will have far-reaching effects.
Through community partners Whirlwind Wheelchair International (WWI), an organization
which has designed developing world wheelchairs for over 30 years, and the Tanzania
Training Center for Orthopedic Technologies (TATCOT), the leader in wheelchair
manufacturing education in Africa, technology developed in WDDC will be disseminated
and implemented in wheelchair workshops around the world.
Background
Motivation to teach this class arises from my own experience with inadequate wheelchair
technology in Tanzania. I spent the summer of 2006 conducting a study entitled
“Assessment of Wheelchair Technology in Tanzania,”1 which was funded by a Public
Service Center Fellowship and supervised by WWI and TATCOT. The project included
interviewing a variety of stakeholders involved with Tanzanian wheelchairs, including
users, manufacturers, and advocacy groups. Over the entire study, approximately 100
interviews were conducted throughout Tanzania in both rural and urban locations.
The results of my assessment showed that wheelchair technology in Tanzania is
insufficiently meeting the needs of users. Many chairs break down prematurely because of
improper design, as shown by the example in Figure 1, where the frame has bent because
the tubing was not strong enough to support the load. Further analysis showed that the
failure occurred where the bending moment was at its maximum. Other problems with
currently produced chairs include underutilization of building materials, improper
1 “Assessment of wheelchair technology in Tanzania.” 2005. Amos Winter. 23 Mar. 2006