The Invisible Wheelchair

The invisible wheelchair given the name Kim-e is a self-balancing robot used by individuals embracing diverse mobility. 

It saddens me to say that most people focus on the obvious rather than focusing on what’s in between the lines. In this case, most people focus on a wheelchair rather than focusing on what the person who is using the wheelchair has to say or do. When sitting in a car, desk, or on a couch everything goes unnoticed and the concept behind Kim-e is to keep things unnoticed to a certain extent. 

The Team

The founding team behind the invisible wheelchair Kim-e is the team of CHRONUS Robotics. The team includes three family members Ričardas Griška, Karolis Griška, and Martynas Grišk along with their product tester Aistė Krušinskaitė. They are engineers and designers who have experience in various fields, including motorsport tech, computer science, and civil engineering. With an experience over 25 years, their journey in motorsports enlightened them to familiarize themselves with innovative tech.

How It All Began

Racing was the source of inspiration for the concept of this novel mobility device. We have seen uncountable wheelchair users in motorsports over the years. Even the Formula One drivers who use the most innovative technology on the planet primarily use manual wheelchairs. This gave rise to the concept of developing a private mobility robot that changed people to work with dignity and engage in unrestricted communication. The idea of CHRONUS KIM1 happened ten years later. A more sophisticated model of the the invisible wheelchair was later called Kim-e.

What Is the Technology

The technology behind the invisible wheelchair Kim-e is phenomenal. It is controlled by the movements of a person’s upper body, instead of having the traditional controllers or joystick. This gives the user the capability to keep their hands to themselves. The chair is able to change the height of the user from sitting to standing in a matter of seconds which allows the user to be at eye level with others. The Invisible Wheelchair is able to move at 20km/H and it weighs less than 40kg. It is easy and practical to move around and maneuver. The user is able to use it not only indoors and outdoors, but it has the option to be used off-road. 

I would like to use the opportunity in this article to say that the invisible wheelchair Kim-e achieved the concept of inclusion in ways that no one was able to achieve. It gives the user confidence and targets other emotional and psychological perspectives that using a chair cannot achieve. The fact that it could be called a power chair rather than a wheelchair shows how not only did they achieve tech advancements but also advancements in word usage. This is the type of technological advancement for which we should aim. 

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