Conventional wheelchairs do not cope well in less-resourced rural areas as they are not stable and can topple easily. This chapter seeks to develop a wheelchair design that offers optimum stability and comfort for people in rural areas where there is rough and uneven terrain environment. The design development process entailed the generation of three possible wheelchair design concepts. Wide rear wheel design was further developed to come up with a detailed design with a maximum tipping angle of 43.17 degrees. This could be considered to be a great improvement compared to the conventional wheelchair configuration. The design was made to function using a ratchet lever bar to push the rear wheels forward to initiate motion. It was established that fabrication of the prototype could be done easily at a lower cost cap of USD200 using locally available materials. The proposed wheelchair design would improve the mobility and consequent living conditions of those disabled individuals living in rough terrain rural set up environments.

The widespread of motor neurone weakness has become a major concern as a result of accidents, ageing, birth defects and other hereditary diseases. A huge number of paraplegics can barely do activities for themselves without assistance from helpers. This study seeks to develop an intelligent wheelchair that has an assistive lifting and multi-posture reclining mechanisms to help in elevating the user from sit to stand posture as well as recline the seat for angles between 90 and 180 degrees through use of hydraulic linear actuators. The design would incorporate strain gauge sensors on the lower back area of the seat to enable the user to stand by merely leaning forward; thereby decreasing the strain on the lower back seat to trigger the lift mechanism until the required height is attained. While pressing the sit button on the console would enable the lowering of the user to a sitting position. The wheelchair development would also enable intelligent mobility through use of ultrasonic sensors to detect obstacles and assist in the braking effort by the user. An economic analysis was done to assess the feasibility viability of the design for local production. Some user requirement validation was undertaken to establish the extent to which the design would satisfy the key requirements of the intended beneficiaries.