Tuesday, November 29, 2011

Maddak Inc. Collapsable Wheels For Manual Chairs

Maddak Inc. is working to bring an innovative set of collapsable wheels for manual chairs in September of 2013. Originally conceived for use on bicycles, this application for this wheel, as explained by Maddak, "will enable wheelchair users to get their wheelchair and wheels into and out of a car with greater ease, to pack an extra set of wheels in a suitcase when travelling, and to potentially even keep their wheelchair inside the cabin of a plane instead of in stowage. In other words, a foldable wheel has the ability to increase the user’s independence while making life a little easier.”

When the wheel is collapsed, the space the wheel occupies is reduced by about half.  The reduction in space can open up the possibilities to transport the user's wheelchair in vehicles that are smaller or have smaller openings that currently prevent a set of normal wheelchair wheels from being placed inside the vehicle.

No pricing information has been released.  More images after the jump.




Tuesday, November 22, 2011

LED-equiped Contact Lenses Could Give Us Terminator Vision


Researchers have recently tested a new type of contact lens that is equipped with a single LED and have been able to conclude that it caused no adverse affects to the user.  This conclusion can open up the possibility of projecting information directly into the user's eye thus eliminating the need for a traditional display.  This evolution of a Heads-Up Display (HUD) could not only be used to display information but could also potentially enhance the vision of the user in a way that goes beyond the traditional use for contact lenses.  Think of the vision that the cyborg had in The Terminator as an inspiration and possibility of what could be possible.  More information after the jump.