A Wheelchair Design That Breaks the Stereotype of Being "Light and Beautiful" Emerges

UNIST Professor Jeong Yeon-woo's Design Team Wins IDEA 2020 Grand Prize for Wheelchair Design
Proposes Single-Person Transport Concept Combining Functionality and Aesthetics ... Product Launch Planned for 2021

Sample wheelchair design created by Professor Jeong Yeon-woo's team.

[Asia Economy Yeongnam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Kim Yong-woo] Is there a wheelchair that is both beautiful and lightweight?

A domestic university design department professor team is challenging product commercialization after winning a global design award with a design that breaks the stereotypes of wheelchairs.

The design team led by Professor Jeong Yeon-woo of the Department of Design at Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology (UNIST) won the main prize at the 2020 International Design Excellence Award (IDEA) in the United States with the wheelchair design concept "Oro Plume," earning recognition in the Professional Concept "Medical & Health" category.

Oro Plume is a wheelchair made of ultra-lightweight materials, with motors installed inside both wheels. Since the electric motors assist movement, user convenience has been greatly improved. The research team significantly enhanced functionality as a mobility aid while simultaneously using attractive shapes and colors to elevate its aesthetic image.

Professor Jeong Yeon-woo explained, "Wheelchair users have to endure the perception of being 'patients' while struggling to push heavy wheelchairs. Oro Plume is a wheelchair that breaks the stereotype of being used only by people with physical ailments by being lightweight, beautiful, and a convenient means of transportation."

The design project involved Professor Jeong Yeon-woo along with researchers Cha Jin-hee, Koo Kyo-hwi, Park Cho-eun, and Jang Woo-in.

Professor Jeong Yeon-woo's team who designed Oro Plum.

The research team devised a plan to use graphene and mesh-shaped high-elasticity fabric materials to reduce the body weight.

The application of these materials drastically reduces the wheelchair's weight, allowing it to be sufficiently powered by in-wheel motors alone.

Users can easily operate the Oro Plume by simply pushing the wheels without a separate controller for motor operation. Pushing both sides activates the motors, and pulling stops them. To change direction, users only need to push one wheel.

Professor Jeong's team is not only focusing on the design of Oro Plume but is also working on actual product launch preparations. They plan to produce the product in 2021 through a joint project with Drone Dome Co., Ltd. (CEO Seo Sung-bin).

The team is conducting various mass production designs, including research to simulate user movements to find a stable center of gravity and improve usability.

The research team completed the prototype production this year and plans to unveil the first prototype by the end of this year.

Professor Jeong Yeon-woo said, "Wheelchair users have to endure the uncomfortable perception of being 'patients' while pushing heavy wheelchairs. If Oro Plume establishes itself as a personal transportation device that anyone would want to ride, wheelchairs can overcome prejudice and meet new possibilities."

IDEA is a design award hosted by the Industrial Designers Society of America and is considered one of the world's top three design awards alongside Germany's iF Design Award and the Red Dot Award.

Oro Plume's design not only won the main prize at IDEA 2020 this year but also received the main prize at the 2019 iF Design Award last year and attracted attention by winning the silver prize at the internationally recognized 2018 Spark Award.

How to Use the Oro Plum Wheelchair.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.