{"id":36592,"date":"2023-10-20T14:45:01","date_gmt":"2023-10-20T14:45:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/startupsmart.test\/2023\/10\/20\/local-non-profit-prompts-creation-of-solar-powered-wheelchair-startupsmart\/"},"modified":"2023-10-20T14:45:01","modified_gmt":"2023-10-20T14:45:01","slug":"local-non-profit-prompts-creation-of-solar-powered-wheelchair-startupsmart","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/uncategorized\/local-non-profit-prompts-creation-of-solar-powered-wheelchair-startupsmart\/","title":{"rendered":"Local non-profit prompts creation of solar-powered wheelchair &#8211; StartupSmart"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"td-post-featured-image\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"445\" height=\"352\" itemprop=\"image\" class=\"entry-thumb\" src=\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/l_worldcpday-445.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"l_worldcpday-445\"\/><\/div>\n<p>An Australian-inspired international design challenge has led to the creation of a solar-powered wheelchair, which could help improve the lives of people with cerebral palsy and other disabilities.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The idea for a solar-powered wheelchair was submitted by a Turkish man with cerebral palsy as part of the inaugural World Cerebral Palsy Day on September 4 last year.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The theme for the day was \u201cChange my world in 1 minute\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Spearheaded by Australia\u2019s Cerebral Palsy Alliance, the campaign asked people with cerebral palsy to submit ideas for things that could be created or developed to make their lives easier.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>According to the alliance, there are more than 17 million people around the world with cerebral palsy, while a further 350 million are closely connected to a child or adult with the disability.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>More than 470 ideas were submitted as part of the campaign but only three, including the solar-powered wheelchair, were shortlisted.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Inventors around the globe were then charged with the task of turning these ideas into reality.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cA total prize pool of $25,000 is available across the three selected ideas to those that can best bring them to life,\u201d Cerebral Palsy Alliance said on its website.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>A team from the University of Virginia was able to create a workable, solar-powered wheelchair.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"445\" height=\"250\" src=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/pJ-0MvibJ70?rel=0\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>According to Cerebral Palsy Alliance spokesperson Marcus Blease, who was also on the World Cerebral Palsy Day panel, many in the energy industry thought it was an unachievable feat.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMany said it just couldn\u2019t be done but it is amazing what this team of young inventors from the University of Virginia have come up [with],\u201d Blease said in a statement.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u2018Their winning design was inspired by retractable roofs on convertible cars.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe use of lightweight yet strong materials with highly efficient solar cells means this newly-designed solar-powered wheelchair is practical for everyday use.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u2018This solar-powered wheelchair could well be a life-changer for people across the world with a physical disability like cerebral palsy who rely on a wheelchair for mobility.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The team from the University of Virginia was led by Dr Mool Gupta and included six students.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The wheelchair was primarily constructed at the National Institute of Aerospace Research and Innovation Laboratories.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>It has an additional 40% range over battery usage and can run more than one kilometre per hour indefinitely without consuming any battery charge.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>It is operated by a single switch and also includes added extras like USB power outlets.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u2018This team of graduate and undergraduate students have created a device that will truly benefit those with disabilities,\u2019 said James H. Aylor, dean of the university\u2019s engineering school.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>World CP Day 2013 will be held on October 2, with people able to submit ideas online at worldcpday.org from July 14 to October 31.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>An Australian-inspired international design challenge has led to the creation of a solar-powered wheelchair, which could help improve the lives<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":62084,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22,1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36592"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36592"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36592\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/62084"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36592"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=36592"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36592"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}