College students design smart wheelchair

Tribune News Service 

Patiala, May 2

Diploma students of the electrical engineering department, Rayat-Bahra Group, have designed a smart wheel chair for the physically challanged.

The wheelchair enables the person to move around and becomes a liberating force for the physically challenged.

Keeping in mind the comfort of its user, the students have designed and fitted four devices to the chair. It can be operated by voice control to give directions to move right, left, forward and backward. Secondly, it can be controlled by a joy stick. Thirdly, it can move with wireless remote control and lastly the most innovative way of its movement is that the user can drive it with motion of head in the direction he wants to go and move around.

It is fitted with a camera which can help the family members to locate the place and position of the person using the chair within range of 30 meters on the TV screen. This facility of watching the user relieves tension o of the family members.

The chair has been designed by students Ayush, Lucky, Samul, Ragvir Singh and Gurdeep Singh. It is a composite and complete state-of-the-art chair and the fabrication of the chair costs around Rs 15,000. It is fitted with 24 VDC battery and a sensing system for its operation with RF transmitter and receiver 433 MHz frequency for wireless remote device.

The chair is equipped with a comfortable seat. This chair can be carried anywhere according to the need. As a pilot project, this wheelchair has been installed on the campus.

Gurvinder Singh Bahra, Chairman, Rayat Bahra Group of Institutions (RBGI), asked the students to prepare more chairs so that the institution can donate them to the needy as a part of corporate social responsibility.

Lauding the efforts of the students who have designed the wheelchair, campus director Dr Piush Verma said wheelchairs are used by people for whom walking is difficult due to disability. He said that we should treat the persons confined to wheelchairs not as sick but treat a wheelchair as an extension of a persons’ body.