Kantapada: A group of students of Swami Vivekananda National Institute of Rehabilitation Training and Research (SVNIRTAR) here have successfully developed a solar-powered wheelchair for persons with disabilities.
The degree students of Physiotherapy department have developed the wheelchair to be run on solar energy to ease the commuting difficulties faced by the differently-abled.
Sources said the final year students had noticed that the disabled persons coming to the institute are facing loads of difficulties while moving from one department to another on the normal wheelchairs, prompting them to develop the solar-powered wheelchair. Finally, they got success in their noble endeavour.
Once charged, the wheelchairs can function for at least three hours. It can move on a speed of 15 to 20 km per hour. Besides, brake, horn, motor and escalator were installed in the wheelchairs, sources said.
“If the wheelchair breaks down, any bicycle repairing shops can fix the problem,” said Golak Bihari Khadanga, Sandeep Patnaik, Abhilash Mohapatra, Sandip Beura, Souma Prakash Acharya and Preeti Payal who have developed it.
“There is a need of support from the government to develop more such wheelchairs,” said the department head Patitapaban Mohanty and professor Basant Kumar Nanda.
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