Meet the NASA Scientist Who's Reinventing the Wheel
From: Popular Science - 04/05/2013
By: Brian E. Clark

Salim Nasser, a NASA engineer, inventor and quadriplegic, has created a wheel
that could dramatically reduce how much energy a wheelchair user expends
moving his or her chair forward. Now Rowheels, the company he cofounded in
2012, hopes to bring the wheel to market later this year. If successful, it
should mean more efficient mobility and healthier bodies for users, Nasser
says. 

Nasser’s wheel helps target bigger muscles. How it works: Using a mechanical
device called a planetary gear, Nasser redesigned the wheel hub so that users
pull it backwards in a rowing motion to go forward. Planetary gears are used
in automatic transmissions and power tools to reverse and reduce motion, but
no wheelchair wheels on the market currently use this design, Nasser says. 

Read the entire article at:
http://www.popsci.com/science/article/2013-04/meet-nasa-scientist-whos-reinventing-wheel

Links:
Rowheels
http://www.rowheels.com/

Rowheel System for wheelchairs translates reverse into forward motion
http://www.gizmag.com/rowheel-system-for-wheelchairs/16594/

Related:
Rio Mobility - lever drive
http://riomobility.com/en/pivot/

Wheelchair Design Captures Team Win
http://www.csuchico.edu/pub/cs/fall_05/feature_03.html

ROTA Mobility
http://rotamobility.com/

Wheelchair Lever and Brake System Offers Increased Mobility and Injury Reduction 
http://www.rehabpub.com/products2/18742-wheelchair-lever-and-brake-system-offers-increased-mobility-and-injury-reduction/

Submitted by Drew Nelson