Darol Kubacz is back on Kilimanjaro with his Freedom For Life team having launched another attempt to become the first paraplegic to make it to the summit of Africa's highest mountain. 2 years ago, during his first summit bid, Darol was forced to turn back with 'just' 3,000ft to go when he developed pulmanory edema (altitude sickness) and came close to death, he's spent these last two years training and preparing for another attempt and started out from the base on 7th August.
Made almost completely from spare bike parts, and even some old pieces of wood, the wheelchair is designed to try and conquer the two main hurdles for mobility in Africa and other developing nations; rough terrain and cost.
Argo Medical Technologies is an Israeli company who have developed a working exoskeleton for wheelchair users. The suit (which is actually designed by a quadriplegic, we didn't know Tony Stark had been injured) uses the normal array of onboard computers, motors and batteries to allow a wheelchair user to walk. Movement is controlled by upper body movement and the user still has to rely on crutches for support and extra balance, but it seems to be a pretty impressive set-up.
So you want to get out on the rock face and maybe even try climbing El Capitan, rock climbing for paraplegics and quadriplegics with good upper body strength isn't impossible but you will need some slightly modified equipment to make thing go smoothly.
Using a standard electric drill as a motor and means of propulsion they built a transfer unit that easily bolts onto any manual wheelchair and lets you get your freak on without the added noise of a petrol engine. With speeds of between 3 and 12 mph from using that drill you got 3 years ago but have never taken out of the box.
You may of noticed the little Flickr RSS feed in the sidebar, well this displays random photo's from our group on Flickr and we want you to join us in showing how you push the limits in a wheelchair.
It's not even a concept so dont get too excited, but even though it's nothing more than a crazy photoshop dream, it's still gone straight to the top of our wheelchair wish list.
Willgo is a UK based wheelchair company making manual wheelchair with geared transmissions powered by hand-cranks rather than traditional wheel pushing. We've talked about hand-crank powered wheelchair before with the Renegade, but the Willgo manages to integrate the gearing and mechanics without the extra bulk of a chain.
We like making things, lets face it even just having game of basketball in a wheelchair requires a special chair that'll probably cost thousands, so being able to make things at home that let us feed out inner desire to risk life and limb without going bankrupt is pretty cool.
Hilary has been a quadriplegic for the last 7 years thanks to a progressive degenerative disease called reflex sympathetic dystrophy and has no movement below her neck, but she's already set sailing records. She became the first quadriplegic sailor to cross the English Channel to France in 2005, and then last year she completed a solo circumnavigation of the Isle of Wight.
Monday, August 11, 2008
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