All-terrain, fast, manoeuvrable and above all safe. What Lukas Rigler from Waldhausen and his team have developed raises the issue of “wheelchairs” to a whole new level and shows all the signs of a bestseller: the order books are full. 200 copies will be delivered this year – mainly to Germany and the Benelux countries. Soon even models will be shipped to Australia. “What’s happening right now is unbelievable,” says Rigler.
The idea for a wheelchair on just one axis came to the electrician after the sale of his used Segway: “The buyer was a multiple sclerosis patient who had it in his head to adapt the principle of the self-balancing drive in such a way that he could could use while sitting.” The new owner kept contacting him and asking Rigler what he thought of this or that idea. “That was a bit annoying, but then it occurred to me that this could be a useful area of application for these vehicles, which are otherwise used purely for fun. Why can’t a wheelchair be cool too?”
Video: OÖN editor Bernhard Leitner at OÖN test drive with the “Hoss”
So the man from the Mühlviertel set about converting a Segway into a wheelchair himself. After six months he had the first prototype ready and showed up with it at a mobility fair in Düsseldorf. “So many people approached me there that I dared to put the whole thing on a professional footing.”
A completely new development was started together with the graduate engineer Dominik Lorenz. The control software in particular took up a lot of development time, as did the question of safe entry and exit, which was solved with extendable supports. It took four years for the first device to be delivered. Rigler now has nine employees. There could be a lot more. “We can’t produce as much as there are orders.” Of course, that would go beyond the capacity of the current company headquarters. That is why Rigler is currently looking for investors who will accompany the further growth of “Hoss”. (live)
- On February 8th Lukas Rigler presents his development at “2 minutes 2 million” on Puls 4.
Source: Nachrichten
