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Sports Walker

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-- PROTOTYPE --------- PURPOSE: To create a prototype of a hands-free wheeled support device for individuals with mobility and neurological disabilities. Brian Light, an avid volleyball player and an individual with multiple sclerosis, designed the Sports Walker to extend the amount of time he was able to continue playing in standing position. The Sport Walker is a hands-free wheeled support device that began as a crude DIY device built from PVC pipe, metal rods, foam padding cut from yoga mats, and duct tape. The walker incorporates a harness worn around the user’s waist, which is supported by six legs that spread out and down to the floor. Each of those legs has a caster wheel on the bottom, allowing the whole apparatus to be rolled across the floor. Because it doesn’t have to be grasped like a conventional walker, the user’s hands are free to serve and return volleyballs. After entering and winning the “Real MS: Your Innovation” global design competition presented by Swiss pharmaceutical company Merck Serono, Light was able to work with a team at the international design firm IDEO to create design sketches and a small-scale prototype of a possible production model of his walker. The results were released to the public in late May 2012. Along with other improvements, the proposed new version of the walker has five legs (or in some versions, four) which telescope to fit the height of the user, and it folds up for storage and transport. The Sport Walker has great potential as a non-sports activity walker for people with disabilities. AUTHOR: Ben Coxworth. TITLE: MS-afflicted volleyball player designs award-winning Sports Walker. WEBSITE: Gizmag. REF: http://www.gizmag.com/sports-walker-ms-volleyball/22863.

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as of: 
08/28/2012
Sports Walker