IIT Delhi Students Win James Dyson Award

Two students namely Amit Kumar and Ritupurna Guha from the prestigious IIT Delhi have been honoured with the popular James Dyson Award. Both of them collectively worked on designing a wheelchair that can help users shift from one medium to another. They have named this unique wheelchair - Samarth, and it is a boon for the caregivers as the effort required during transferring patients has been reduced. Because of their work, the two have been felicitated with Rs. 1.70 lakh as prize money along with the award.

Amit and Ritupurna visited Cheshire Home for Disability prior to designing the wheelchair with an objective to interact with mobility-impaired patients and understand their challenges. Basis their discussion, both of them figured out that most of them faced difficulty in moving from one medium to another while using a wheelchair. It was also one of the major concerns for patients suffering from paraplegia in India.

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After a lot of visits to the Indian Spinal Injuries Centre, sleepless nights, feedback evaluation and visits to wholesale stores led to the designing of wheelchair Samarth. When Amit and Ritupurna were asked about their innovation, they said that they saw potential in this wheelchair and the need of many patients for some innovation like this. They both were confident that the innovation will reduce the tension of many patients and caretakers who find it hard to shift the patients back and fro. After this convenient wheelchair, both the students are now focusing on inventing the designs for manufacturers.

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Last year, another student was given the James Dyson Award for designing efficient stretchers that shifts patients without giving them pain. James Dyson Award is an award which is given to the winners of an international design competition after going through several applications that are received year after year.