An inventor of an electric tricycle headset, who used graphics software and 3D printing technology to develop the device, has applied the technology to wheelchairs to help people with spinal injuries.
Hung Cheng-ching (洪正清), who has spinal cord injury, has invented an 11kg electric tricycle headset that can be attached to various types of wheelchairs to convert them into electrically powered chairs.
The tricycle headset, called the “Sherpa bike,” won a gold medal at the International Exhibition of Inventions in Geneva in April last year and is now being sold on the market.
Wheelchair users, with the help of the Sherpa bike headset, no longer need to worry that their vehicles might roll backward when going up a slope.
Hung gave a talk about the invention of the Sherpa bike and encouraged others to invent and innovate, at a recent event hosted by the Development Center for the Spinal Cord Injured in Taoyuan.
Hsu Tai-yuan (許泰源), an executive of the company that developed the graphics software used on the Sherpa bike, donated a copy of the software to the center.
Hsu said he hoped the software, called Solidworks and valued at NT$1.7 million (US$53,600), would help people with spinal injuries to learn new skills.
Center chairman Lin Chin-hsing (林進興) said the facility has provided life recovery assistance and job training to about 1,000 people with spinal injuries, to help them re-enter the job market.
It is hoped that mobile app development and 3D printing can also help such people in the future, Lin said.
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