Zipfel Emily, Cooper Rory A, Pearlman Jon, Cooper Rosemarie, McCartney Mark
Department of Rehabilitation Science & Technology, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, USA.
Disabil Rehabil. 2007;29(11-12):949-62. doi: 10.1080/09638280701240672.
The most common methods of delivering assistive technology in developing countries are charitable donation and workshops. This describes a new approach to solving the problem, a collaboration undertaken by a US-based lab and a manufacturer in India to produce quality wheelchairs. One goal is to publicize the design free of charge to manufacturers and interested parties world-wide. The process, a demonstration of a new technology transfer method, and the product, an adult manual wheelchair, are described.
An iterative process occurred over four years to design and produce the wheelchair. This consisted of prototypes, small production runs, ANSI/RESNA testing, hardness and tensile testing and informal user testing.
The design is a manual folding cross-brace design with several points of adjustability. Final pre-production prototypes experienced fastener failures during durability testing. Higher grade bolts were specified. Trial-run production has begun. An ANSI/RESNA wheelchair test lab was constructed in India. Subsequent projects include power and pediatric tilt-in-space wheelchairs.
The approach seems promising as a method to improve the quality of assistive technology available in India and begin to meet the vast need in India. Pitfalls encountered throughout the collaboration are described in this paper along with solutions to remedy these problems for future projects.
在发展中国家，提供辅助技术最常见的方式是慈善捐赠和举办工作坊。本文介绍了一种解决该问题的新方法，即一家美国实验室与印度一家制造商合作生产高质量轮椅。目标之一是向全球的制造商和相关方免费公开该设计。本文描述了这一过程（一种新技术转让方法的示范）以及产品（一款成人手动轮椅）。
设计和生产这款轮椅历时四年，采用了迭代过程。这包括制作原型、小规模生产、进行美国国家标准学会/康复工程与辅助技术协会（ANSI/RESNA）测试、硬度和拉伸测试以及非正式用户测试。
该设计为手动折叠交叉支撑式，具有多个可调节点。最终的试生产原型在耐久性测试中出现了紧固件故障。于是指定使用更高等级的螺栓。试生产已经开始。在印度建造了一个ANSI/RESNA轮椅测试实验室。后续项目包括电动轮椅和儿童空间倾斜轮椅。
作为提高印度现有辅助技术质量并开始满足印度巨大需求的一种方法，该方法似乎很有前景。本文描述了合作过程中遇到的问题以及为未来项目解决这些问题的方案。
