WHOOL
The 'Whool' is a wheelchair that has the elements of both bamboo and metal.
The 'Whool' is a wheelchair that has the elements of both bamboo and metal.
This project was started to achieve a more eco-friendly design for transporting structures made of metal.
It's always been known that the strength of bamboo is almost 10 times greater than steel.
Bamboo can withstand greater compression and over all pressure as a whole structure.
But the intricacies involved in dealing with Bamboo as a building material is more of an artisan skill than a process that can be mechanized.
Although there are some places that encourage the construction of large workshops that are adept to deal with the manipulation of bamboo to create larger structures.
These units are usually in places where Bamboo is a found in abundance, majorly in the areas of Bali, Vietnam and Cambodia where the kinds of bamboo range from different colors to sizes.
Another interesting aspect of Bamboo is that it is one of the fastest growing grasses, growing by almost 4 ft a day.
MORE ABOUT OUR PROJECT :
The bamboo wheelchair is a light, affordable wheelchair that we are working on to replace expensive wheelchairs in third-world countries. This is aimed at seniors in those countries to have a more sustainable version of a wheelchair to move around in, using locally sourced eco friendly material.
Our solution is a wheelchair made of majorly of bamboo with materials such as tarp for the seat, metal rods, bike tires and rope. All of these materials are locally available in India. According to statistics, India has 7,000,000 disabled seniors in need of a wheelchair.
Our wheelchair has three wheels, two in the back and one in front. We have two separate sets of wheels : One small for indoor use, and one large removable wheel for outdoor use. The large wheel can be propelled with a spring loaded gear attached to a bamboo rod. We are currently working with the Bamboo Centre in Pondicherry which provides us the required tools to manufacture our product.
The total cost of The Whool is Rs.500 as opposed to the ones in the market that cost around Rs.4000.
Below are some inspirational images and designs sketched out to build the wheel chair, taking into account areas and spaces in the chair which we can replace with bamboo effectively and efficiently.
Also enjoy the wonderful structures that have been built from Bamboo in various regions that change out perspective of using bamboo as a construction material.
