I students develop means of transport for people with disabilities

The cooperation of THI students with the South African charity foundation Shonaquip is entering the next round: After the students had further developed standing aids for South African children with disabilities under the direction of Prof. Dr. Marco Di Maio, Professor of Systems Engineering and Engineering Informatics, a new group of students now took up the challenge of designing means of transport for people with disabilities, among other things for faster evacuation in emergency situations.

The aim was to design means of transport that could be used in situations for which wheelchairs are unsuitable. In addition to the medically correct positioning of the person in the means of transport, it was particularly important that the "transporter" could be easily manufactured, repaired and used in many different ways. For this purpose, it must be able to move in a controlled manner even on difficult ground and be collapsible to save space, so that the person can be taken along by a shared taxi, for example.

Among other things, the students developed concepts for means of transport in which the person hangs stably in a full-body belt made of fabric, which can be securely fastened to a transportable frame with spring-loaded carabiners. The advantage: Impacts that can easily occur during transport are not transmitted to the body of the person, which typically reacts very sensitively to stress. Another concept allows the person to be pulled, which is a great advantage especially in rough terrain.

The Shonaquip charity foundation, which is now examining the concepts for possible implementation, has already offered the students internships in South Africa where they can put their concepts into practice.