UI student's wheelchair features rolling, with changes

University of Illinois mechanical engineering graduate student Scott Daigle shows the first prototype of a wheelchair he is building that features a continuously variable transmission on each wheel designed to maximize a user's shoulder function. By Heather Coit

The News-Gazette (Monday, November 30, 2009) -- URBANA – If gear shifting is good for motorists and bicyclists, why not for wheelchair users?

That's what Scott Daigle wondered as he watched people propel themselves around the University of Illinois campus in wheelchairs.

"They were going about as fast as they could. Their arms were the only things limiting them," said Daigle, a first-year graduate student in mechanical engineering.

Adding gear shifting to the wheelchair could help them get around more efficiently, he figured. So he set about designing improvements and came up with a continuous variable transmission.

There are already wheelchairs with gears, but Daigle's concept is distinct.

"The way mine is different is, it automatically senses your conditions, so if you're going quickly, it will shift to a higher gear, or if you're going up a hill, it will shift to a lower gear. The user doesn't even think about it," he said.

By Don Dodson

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