New Handicare: Device helps those with lower limb-mobility issue move in more hygienic way
A mobility device that helps the differently-abled move about in a more hygienic way has won two city-based students the second position at the Aarohan Social Innovation Awards given out by Infosys Foundation. The award also includes a prize of Rs 15 lakh.
The mobility device, nicknamed Handicare, allows for those with lower limb-disability to move about without having to touch the floor. The mobility device is part of the product developed by two engineering students, Sumanth Mudaliar and Vishrut Bhatt, as part of their start up business Conceptual.
“This device is particularly for use indoors and in campus. In the outdoors, often those with lower limb-disability can move around in a wheelchair, but that becomes difficult when indoors, particularly in small rooms,” said Mudaliar.
He said women with lower limb-disability has found it particularly useful. “We have found that women with lower limb mobility issues often have their kitchen and other work at the floor level. But the sort of mobility vehicle that they use indoor was not very hygienic. It was the sort of device we see at the railway stations where people touch their hands on the floor to propel themselves forward,” he said.
He said that Handicare allows a user to wiggle so as to propel the device ahead. “Moreover, it has a steering wheel to help the user steer it in the right direction,” he said.
Mudaliar and Bhatt first developed the prototype during their diploma years. They have so far sold 300 units each costing over Rs 2,300. “We had been to the Apang Manav Mandal for a project during our diploma and there they asked us to work on something that could help improve the mobility of those who have lower limb mobility issues. We saw that the device they relied on left their hands dirty and thought of making something that was more hygienic,” he said.
He said that the device is made of wood and metal and the wheels are made of nylon. Mudaliar is, at present, pursuing his final semester in mechanical engineering from LD Engineering College while Bhatt belongs to LJ College of Engineering.
The two had earlier also got Rs 10 lakh for their start-up from the state government.