The power of fatherly love leads to wheelchair innovation

Barry Dean was concerned about the lack of safety features in powered wheelchairs after a friend’s mother tipped her chair over a ramp, cut her face and broke multiple of her bones. All he could think about was his 19-year-old daughter Katherine who has cerebral palsy and has been in a wheelchair all her life due to having her spine fused with two and a half dozen screws which worried him that if she fell, the trauma could be horrible.

When he began to think about safety, he realized that Katherine’s wheelchair, which costs about $79,000 and weighs over 300 pounds, has only one safety feature, which is it's seat belt. It only takes a small obstacle to flip her over and cause serious harm.

That’s when he got together with his brother, Jered, and a team of engineers to create LUCI, which is a high-tech hardware and software platform that mounts to a power wheelchair to provide stability, security and connectivity. LUCI mounts between the wheels and seat on the back of the wheelchair, and with the help of smart technology, it maps out the environment surrounding the wheelchair so it can navigate between obstacles, thus avoiding collisions, bumps, or possible tipping scenarios.

It also has some features completely customizable, to any wants and needs of a teenager.

This device is also connected with The MyLUCI portal allowing the users and their parents to view their data and set up alerts. LUCI also works with Google and Alexa.

"What started as a labor of love among family members has ultimately created a safer, more stable way for people with disabilities to navigate their world and stay connected to loved ones," Barry said.

Adapted from https://eu.usatoday.com/story/news/health/2020/06/21/fathers-day-dads-lo...
Find out more about this solution here: https://luci.com/

DISCLAIMER: This story was written by someone who is not the author of the solution, therefore please be advised that, although it was written with the utmost respect for the innovation and the innovator, there can be some incorrect statements. If you find any errors please contact the patient Innovation team via info@patient-innovation.com or at carolina.piedade@patient-innovation.com directly.