Wheeling
down a flight of stairs may no longer be a formidable challenge for those
confined to a wheelchair. Israeli company SoftWheel has developed a next-generation wheel that
has its own inner-suspension system for shock absorption.
SoftWheel is the brainchild of Gilad Wolf, a farmer who
found himself bound to a wheelchair for three weeks. “Four years ago, I broke
my pelvis,” he tells NoCamels. “When I was wheeled to the synagogue one day, I
was in agony when we went over some Ackerstein stones (a traditional stone used
for sidewalks in Israel, which has many grooves).
I work with tractors and I noticed that tractors have a simple and
ingenious airbag-based shock-absorbing construct. So I put two and two
together: I built a wheelchair and combined a similar construct for each wheel.
It made the wheelchair experience completely different. I took the idea and
started to roll with it,” Wolf tells NoCamels.
While the company’s first product, Acrobat, is designed for
wheelchairs, the company believes its product has a much wider-ranging
application. “We understood very quickly that it’s not only a wheelchair
product, but a complete game-changer,” CEO Daniel Barel tells NoCamels, “it is
a platform for anything that has wheels.”
The
Acrobat is designed to absorb shock and can be adjusted for each rider. In
regular wheelchairs, (even “premium” ones) shock is spread evenly throughout
the wheel, then transferred in its entirety to the rider. The Acrobat wheel
operates differently. When the wheel is subjected to impact, the inner suspension
automatically shifts towards the source of the impact and then back to its
position, within three tenths of a second. This mechanism drastically reduces
the shock felt by the rider, which makes it easier to traverse bumpy roads, go down
curbs – or even stairs.
“Our
technology has been tested by major wheelchair manufacturers around the world,
both in Europe and the US,”Barel tells NoCamels, “and the results were off the
charts.”
According to Barel, Acrobat wheels will be on the market this
fall. “We’ve finished development for the wheel and we built our own production
line in Israel.”
Cushing
the commuter’s ride
Beyond
wheelchairs, the company has also developed Fluent, a wheel based on its
Symmetrical Selective In-Wheel Suspension, which can be used in bicycles. “Up
until six year ago, you did not have a ‘city bike’ category,”
Barel claims, “Today, in Europe, people commute with these
bikes to work.” Barel asserts that unlike mountain bikes, city bikes
have no suspension, and according to him, it is “the fastest growing segment in
the world bicycle market.”
Heading
overseas before returning home
In
the future, the company aims to expand its reach to all kinds of vehicles,
including cars and even airplane landing gear. They are currently working on
their Samson line, which will first be used on UAVs.
SoftWheel was incorporated in 2011, with support from the Rad-BioMed Technology
Accelerator and the Office of the Chief Scientist of the Israeli Ministry of
Economics. The company’s chief designer is AAmirmir Zaid, who also designed the MUVe foldable urban
scooter.