Brian has been supporting disabled former Royal Marine Commando Phil Eaglesham to make ‘Victor’, his all-terrain mobility device, a reality. Forced into a new way of life, Phil quickly identified multiple key failings affecting current mobility devices:
“Current devices on the market are outdated and not fit for my generation. Development has been lacking and existing designs stigmatise the user. People judge with their eyes and something that looks limiting affects how other people interact with the person using it.”
Phil and Brian teamed up in 2015 and set up to create a mobility device that had none of the drawbacks Phil identified. As an alumnus Brian was familiar with 91ֱ’s expertise in engineering and, after attending an alumni reunion event where he spoke to members of the Faculty of Engineering, was put into contact with the University’s (AMRC).
The AMRC is a pioneer in the field of advanced manufacture and was keen to work with Brian and Phil.
From our very first meeting with the AMRC there was immediate interest in helping us. From the outset, the project really took off and developed momentum,”
Brian Meaden
Economics alumnus and Chairman of Conquering Horizons
Following an investment campaign that raised almost £800,000, the team at the AMRC were able to work up their designs and produce a fully-functioning prototype. The device incorporates an electrically actuated arm to raise users to a ‘social height’, multi-directional all-terrain wheels, the ability to turn on the spot, all while looking aesthetically relevant to help overcome the stigma of existing devices.
Phil said the prototypes the AMRC presented him with surpassed what he thought was possible:
“The devices the AMRC produced are outstanding and prove that what we’ve been aiming for is achievable. Victor is a design which doesn’t ask the environment to adapt to the user, it is a mobility device which adapts to the environment around it.
“To design a device which able-bodied people see as cool and would use themselves shifts the dynamic, it means disabled users don’t feel like second-class citizens. In the short period I have been using Victor it has completely changed my life; it has given me an enormous amount of independence and I see this as a game changer for users the world over.”
Conquering Horizons has now moved the project to the production phase. Brian said Victor will be in production and available towards the end of 2020:
“Powered wheelchairs currently on the market are expensive, unreliable and unable to negotiate obstacles only a few millimetres high. Our vehicle is cool in design, robust, has off-road capability, four-wheel drive and can lift users to a social height; it is a game changer for all ages, sizes, weights and disabilities.”