Advancement in science and technology can offer innovative solutions to the elderly and people with disability. MTEC-NSTDA has successfully developed a prototype of wheelchair motorized attachment called M2E 1.1. The equipment -- consisting of a power supply unit, a motor unit and a control unit -- is able to convert a manual wheelchair into an electric wheelchair at the cost of 7000 baht, making an electric wheelchair much more affordable. This motorized attachment has passed industry safety testing performed by the Electrical and Electronic Products Testing Center (PTEC).
To make this solution assessible to the public, MTEC-NSTDA has established a program with technical colleges to transfer the technology so that these technical colleges can assemble and install the equipment to a manual wheelchair and provide maintenance service to target users in their respective area. The collaboration has already been set up with Chonburi Technical College and Thai-Austrian Technical College, Sattahip. Twenty units of wheelchair motorized attachment have been manufactured and distributed to target users through these two technical colleges. MTEC-NSTDA is planning to expand the collaboration to other technical colleges throughout the country to bring this innovation to users nationwide.
