3D-printed wheelchair has made-to-measure seat and foot bay

31st May 2016

Enaie Azambuja

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Benjamin Hubert's London studio Layer has released photographs and a video of its made-to-measure 3D-printed wheelchair. The Go chair, which Hubert claims is the "world's first 3D-printed consumer wheelchair", was presented at Layer's exhibition at 155 Clerkenwell. It is the result of a two-year project carried out by the studio's research division, LayerLAB, and has been created in collaboration with 3D-printing company Materialise.

The wheelchair is a "tool to improve the quality of life of wheelchair users", and will feature a made-to-measure seat and foot bay. Both of these customisable components are created by mapping the individual user's biometric information and inputting the data into 3D-printing software.

Layer observes that the wheelchair would be a "world first" for consumer wheelchairs that aren't developed for athletes or as one-off projects.

The seat is printed in two materials – a semi-transparent resin and thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU) plastic that provides shock-absorption – and titanium will be used to construct the foot bay.

Layer developed the wheelchair alongside users and medical professionals in order to determine the main drawbacks of wheelchairs currently on the market. One of these was the strain and difficulty of self-propelling, especially in wet conditions.

In response, the studio developed lightweight carbon-fibre spokes that fit inside the chair's wheels and a wheel surface that is designed to lock into custom-made gloves.

A prototype of the Go wheelchair launched during Clerkenwell Design Week, which took place on May 24th to 26th.