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Wheelchairs are an excellent mobility device for within buildings. Unfortunately, it is difficult to travel over long distances using just a wheelchair. Because of this drawback, the tricycle is the wheelchair of choice in developing countries, where the ability to work is paramount. The creation of a tricycle attachment allows for travel over both short and long distances.

Elli Pula, Dustin Kendrick, Shannon Moran, Caitlin Reyda, Tiffany Jin, Mario Bollini, and Gwyn Jones worked on this project during Spring 2009, continuing work done by Levi Schmit and Xuefeng Chen in Kenya and Vietnam, respectively.

The inspiration for a donation network came out of a need for funding. There are excellent wheelchair workshops in East Africa with long lists of people on their waiting lists. These wheelchair workshops lack funding, but provide better quality wheelchairs to their clients than the wheelchairs currently being imported and donated. The local wheelchair workshops have modified their chairs in response to the rougher terrain. By using locally made parts, these workshops’ products have replaceable components and can be fixed locally.

A team led by Forrest Funnell and Debbie Schapira with Danielle DeLatte, Kimberly McManus, Asad Moten, and Lisa Tacoronte worked out the kinks in the system. They continued work by Danielle DeLatte, Shirley Fung, Forrest Funnel, and April Wachtel. Following the spring 2009, Danielle took the project to East Africa. Pilot programs in Tanzania and Kenya worked with the Kilimanjaro Association for the Spinally Injured and the Association of the Physically Disabled of Kenya to make and distribute three wheelchairs. In Uganda, the foundation for future pilots was laid.

Tish Scolnik originated the project, even taking the project abroad, working with partners at the Kilimanjaro Association for the Spinally Injured (KASI). She made a blog and a website about her experiences.

In Spring 2009, a new team led by Tish and made up of Bina Choi, Leah Hokanson, Chris Mills, Vicky Thomas, and Joseph Wallins continued her earlier work. They focused on three aspects of the multifaceted problem: an attachable stool to increase business opportunities, improving the attachable table model, and detailing the logistics of microfinance.

The team worked with a community partner from Uganda, Fatuma Acan, to improve the design and feasibility.

Currently, Tish Scolnik is working in East Africa to finish her MIT Mechanical Engineering thesis. She is blogging again at travelingtish.blogspot.com.

This Powertrike group is working with the Association of the Physically Disabled of Kenya (APDK) to modify their tricycle wheelchair to be able to have a power assist.  This is a design that APDK is very excited about having. It has the potential to be useful to trike users in Kenya and other countries as it would allow users who need to travel long distances a means of having the ability to move more quickly and not have to rely soley upon their body power.  Having the ability to use a power assist on their trike could also allow users to be able to operate a small business with their trike such as a delivery service.

Starting by looking at the work done on the project by Nathan Wang for his senior thesis, the team took the preliminary design that he developed and modify the trike to be more functional and efficient both mechanically and for the user.  The current trike we are working with is a APDK standard wheelchair trike with a two cycle, 48cc, 2.2 horsepower, gas Grubee Skyhawk Engine.

The Figure-Eight Drive is an implementation of a Retro-direct bicycle drivetrain on a hand-powered tricycle. It provides tricycle users with a reliable two geared system. Users can switch between the two gears by changing the direction of their pedaling, with both directions resulting in forward propulsion. Pedaling in the standard forwards direction provides users with an approximately 1:2.25 cruising gear, while pedaling in the reverse direction allows users to climb and maneuver easily with a 1:1 gear ratio. The tricycle can freewheel in the forwards direction, though no backwards movement is allowed. The steering column can be rotated 180 degrees, allowing one to ambulate and freewheel in reverse.

The drivetrain was developed by a group as part of the class Wheelchair Design for Developing Countries during Spring 2007 at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. I was granted funding by the MIT Public Service Center to travel to Nairobi, Kenya and develop the drivetrain with the Association for the Physically Disabled of Kenya (APDK), an NGO that manufactures and distributes mobility aids throughout East Africa.

For more information, check out: http://web.mit.edu/mbollini/www/tricycle/