Although we don’t condone making your own wheelchair you do have to admire some folks efforts particularly when it is a wheelchair for a child. Described as an affordable electric wheelchair this one certainly looks the part and has put a smile on the kids face as engineers from Bigham Young University scratched their heads for a design that can be made at home.

Using blue PVC pipe the frame was constructed and is described as having the benefit of being expandable as the child grows. Pram wheels were used on the rear and electric motors fitted to the front castors enabling it to turn with ease.

A young mother is the United States was presented with the homemade electric wheelchair and expressed her gratitude as she said every kid wants the mobility every other child has. £ year old Tanner Jensen who has spinal muscle atrophy was presented with the children’s electric wheelchair and took to it without any fuss and within seconds had the biggest smile as he used the joystick controller to navigate his way around the indoor stadium on his maiden voyage.

This wheelchair made the news and is now described as an open source wheelchair as its plans are available and all items used in its construction can be bought in a hardware store.

Muscular Atrophy: three-year-old Tanner Jensen and 20-month-old Skyler.

“Working with the Jensen family made the whole project more meaningful,” said Ian Freeman, who worked on the chair. “We knew we had to deliver a working wheelchair for these boys. It gave us a lot of motivation from the very beginning.” said faculty coach Mark Colton  “This capstone project is one of the most satisfying that I’ve done—and one of the best teams I’ve worked with. These students wanted to do something excellent and not just get a good grade.”

Mark reasoned that although the chair has limitations it is good more general use and can be built for around $500 instead of the usual $5,000 that an off the shelf model could cost.

For our selection of manual children’s wheelchair please visit here: https://www.uk-wheelchairs.co.uk/childrens-wheelchairs