I could see this being useful. Not everyone who uses a wheel chair is paralyzed. Some have balance issues, or limited strength. Dividing the effort between arms and legs could give increased independence and it would be more ergonomic than scooting with the feet like a lot of people end up doing in wheel chairs.
Sure, it’s not super different from a recumbent bike (and seems to lack a steering mechanism) but if the pedals could be folded out of the way it could be easier for a person with mobility issues to get in and out of.
It’s not necessarily about usefulness but rather quantity and economics of scale.
The number of people needing wheelchairs in the first place is pretty small compared to the population, and adding the additional caveat of those that can still use their legs fully to power what is effectively a bicycle, results in a venn diagram with an extremely tiny use case.
The cost of a decent basic wheelchair (not AliExpress/Walmart shit) is already high. Adding the complexity of a bicycle on top of that just makes it more expensive. And then there’s insurance which almost certainly would tell you to kick rocks before they would even think of covering a fraction of the cost because it isn’t necessary.
This is literally why those silly “as seen on TV” product commercials makes sense. You know, the ones where ordinary looking people seem super, incompetently incapable of doing normal everyday tasks. The snuggie sure seems stupid… Until you realize it it’s meant for people who are disabled with mobility issues. Then it makes complete fucking sense. Most of those things were designed for disabled people, but that’s a really small market to appeal to, so they broadened their market in order to make the things affordable to the actual target demographic.
I met a guy while I was working at Amazon whos dad bought a couple snuggies for hunting and overnight drives, and apparently his elderly disabled grandma who just didnt watch tv claimed half of then. This was apparently in the mid to late 2000s. Also according to him his grandmother wasnt a ludite his grandpa ran a movie and videogames rental place, and had built a whole as mini threatre in their living room.
Also according to him his grandma liked halo 2 and kicking his ass in smash melee.
Maybe this is a picture of some real hospital equipment? I didn’t check for pixels.
I once suggested a similar project at our company. One of our products is labelled in braille. For technical reasons it was the easiest way to drill holes in the front plate and stick a transparent plastic insert through from the back.
My suggestion was to add a few blue LEDs behind it to light up those braille dots. It would have been meaningless for the intended user - but it would have looked way cool!
I often think of this sign I saw at a small children’s playground with braille on it hung 6 feet in the air with no way to reach it.
I think of the sign that says “hot surface do not touch” with accompanying braille.
Yep. That one was made by a guy who made all kinds of warning plates for their plant, and legal & corporate requirements were that every sign has to have braille on it. I don’t think the department requesting that sign from their sign-making-department had this on their screens…
There’s also no way for someone who needs Braille to actually DO the “puzzle”. The other words don’t have Braille, the map appears to be flat. Terrible design.
Nah the black parts of the sign are recessed. You can see from the lighting.
Maybe the builder just mounted the panel the wrong way? It serves as a wall for the platform behind it.
They exist, but the pedals are higher, for your arms! I used to work with a guy who did this: every day at lunchtime he’d go zooming around the parking lot getting a good workout in
https://bike-on.com/product-category/shop-handcycles/attachable-handcycles/
I’m an able-bodied handcyclist. Not a wheelchair attachment, but a dedicated handcycle. I’ve been riding one for over 20 years now. I alternate riding it and riding a leg-powered bicycle. Cycling and hiking are the only exercises I will religiously stick to. I realized that my upper body was being neglected and gave a handcycle a shot.
They are super fun and a great workout. I prefer my handcycle rides tremendously over my to eg-poweted bicycle rides (but I can’t skip leg day). I highly recommend trying out a handcycle to anybody who thinks they may be interested.
If you’re in the Los Angeles area, and are interested in trying one out, message me. I love introducing folks to handcycles and live down the block from a bike path. I even have a couple for sale that I’d let go at a very reasonable price if anyone wants one. I just don’t want to ship them.
This better not be like the last time someone on the Internet invited me to come visit them in a strange city if I was curious about trying hand stuff.
I mean, there are people who need a wheelchair but are still able to use this.
It took me longer then i want to admit to realise why this is a bad idea
