By Cameron WestoN
A WILLIAMSTOWN man’s inventiveness and creativity has been acknowledged on national television for his revolutionary wheelchair.
Colin Johanson last week won the People’s Choice Award for 2006 on the popular ABC television series The New Inventors.
The People’s Choice Award, given for the invention that received the most votes from the viewing public over the year, saw Mr Johanson fly to Hong Kong to spruik his creation at the Hong Kong Innovation and Design Expo.
The revolutionary electric wheelchair, designed in Broadmeadows, can climb 13cm kerbs, travel at up to 10km/h and rotate on the spot.
It also has an adjustable frame designed to dramatically increase user mobility.
“I came up with the idea in 1981 … and have been waiting for the right batteries and motors that I thought would do the design justice,” Mr Johanson said.
“I wanted a chair I’d be happy to drive myself.”
Mr Johanson became a quadriplegic after breaking five vertebrae in a hang-gliding accident at the age of 20.
“I was still in hospital when I started modifying my own wheelchair,” he said.
Kangan Batman TAFE aircraft mechanical engineering students and the electrical engineering course built the prototype on the Broadmeadows campus. The 49-year-old hopes to sell the patent, which now belongs to Kangan Batman TAFE, to one of four American companies that dominate the electric wheelchair market.
“When they start rolling off the production line and rolling around on the streets, I’ll be able to say ‘that is mine’,” he said.
