Most electrical wheelchairs are bulky and heavy due to the motor and battery, and therefore cannot be folded and packed away into the boot of most vehicles. When needing transport, users of such wheelchairs would need to call for dedicated transport services or wheelchair accessible cabs, which cost more.

A group of students from Singapore Polytechnic’s (SP) School of Engineering took it upon themselves to help wheelchair-users travel around more confidently, as well as in a more cost-effective manner, by creating the Dream Power wheelchair motor, a power add-on which can be mounted onto and dismounted from a regular wheelchair quickly.

The invention was one of the projects presented to various voluntary welfare organisations at the 21st SP Centre for Application in Rehabilitation Engineering (SP CARE) Handing Over Ceremony on 13 March 2014. Launched in 1993, SP CARE aims to provide students with the opportunity to apply their knowledge to real life projects and instill the value of being caring citizens.

SPD’s president Ms Chia Yong Yong, who was the event’s Guest-of-Honour, said: “Through the good work of SP CARE over the last 20 years, students and staff members of this faculty have through innovation and engineering helped to enhance the lives of our seniors and of people with disabilities, by translating training and knowledge into concrete and practical ideas that benefit those who need such support the most.”

To find out more about the Dream Power wheelchair motor, listen to team members Lim Boon Hock and Mohammad Ridhwan bin Zulkiffli as they share their project on 938Live’s ‘They Are Making A Difference’ here