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Since the wheelchair was invented it hasn’t really undergone any major changes. Sure the thing you are probably sitting in right now is smaller and lighter than the 16th century chair King Philip II of spain used to get around in, but it’s basic design is pretty similar. Four wheels and a seat.

Ever since people have needed wheelchairs there have been people designing and building them. The advances in design over the last 20 years have made the heavy cumbersome wheelchairs of the past give way to smaller lighter models that truly allow independence and freedom. Some designers try to re-invent the wheel and drastically change the basic design just for the sake of design, often to the extent that the wheelchair is hugely impractical, but sometimes they get it right too.

New technologies and materials mean that wheelchairs can be much lighter than ever before and the profits to be made from a successful product reaching market mean more and more designers are putting their skills towards designer their version of the perfect wheelchair.

Here are some eye catching wheelchair designs and concepts:

PEGASUS WHEELCHAIR

A hybrid design concept from Porsche, the Pegasus is powered by electric motors and uses technology similar to a Segway to allow the user to rise into a standing position. No idea how this thing is powered or controlled, but with segways able to store heavy duty batteries in their base it isn’t an entirely unfeasible design. Standing wheelchairs aren’t exactly common yet, but since the invention of the iRobot the technology is proven, getting the size and bulk down to something this slim is the next step. We think it’s more than a few years yet, but on the plus side, it’s a wheelchair designed by Porsche. Pegasus Concept

TOYOTA iREAL 

Toyota unveiled it’s iReal concept in 2007 and actually hopes to bring it to production. It’s not officially a wheelchair, but a “Personal Mobility Product” aimed at the general public to use when they are too lazy to walk.

 The Toyota i-REAL represents the next stage of Toyota’s personal mobility vehicle development, following the PM, i-unit and i-swing. The Toyota i-REAL mobility vehicle uses three wheels (two at the front and one at the back), in low-speed mode, shortening its wheelbase to allow it to maneuver naturally among pedestrians at similar eyesight height without taking up a large amount of space; in high-speed mode the wheelbase lengthens to provide a lower center of gravity and better driving performance. 

It’s laughably impractical as a wheelchair, it looks too big to even get indoors, but if lazy able-bodied people are going to be zooming around on these then we can too. Only we’ll fit ours with lazers.
Toyota iReal 

BIG FOOT WHEELCHAIR

The Big Foot concept makes use of moulded plastic to form the frame of the chair and the seat as one complete unit. There is little doubt that such a chair would be lightweight and the single front wheel probably makes it pretty maneuverable too, but dangerously unstable. But hopefully this thing will never get near a production line, for many reasons, but mainly because we dont want to spend our days sitting in a patio chair that appears to have a growth. Those wheels look pretty cool though. Big Foot Wheelchair

Adventure Wheelchair

We dont know much about the ‘Adventure Wheelchair”, other than it looks awesome and we want one. Judging from the concept artwork it looks as if there is a joystick on each arm rest, so this is probably an electrically powered chair. We like the low center of gravity and the fact that it also seems to have independent suspension for it’s (gnarly) wheels. If this ever went into production then it would be a hit with team pushingthelimits, even as a manual system it looks perfect for kiting and paragliding. Seriously, we want one. Adventure Wheelchair

Standing Wheelchair

Very similar to the Pegasus concept, this unnamed standing wheelchair doesn’t even have a name, or any other information. That hasn’t stopped us from wanting it though, or planning to sell our kidneys to be able to pay for it. Using the segway type two wheel design, but with fancy ‘in-wheel’ motors, and a frame that supports the body so that it can be raised into a standing position. These type of designs seem to be reliant on battery technology advancing greatly before they can hope to become reality, and batteries are notoriously stubborn in their reluctance to evolve. Standing Wheelchair