Young Inventor Needs Financial Sponsor to Build Wink Operated Wheelchair

posted on Apr 15 by Admin in the Disability News, Wheelchair Technology category

Wheelchair technology continues to grow and come out with new innovative products. Young inventor Mohanad Mekky has come up with a prototype for controlling wheelchairs with winks. All Mekky needs to build this wheelchair is a financial sponsor to give him roughly $2,000 and a motorized wheelchair. This would be a great product in assisting those that are quadriplegics.

Mekky is quite the genius when it comes to engineering and inventing things. He skipped middle school science and jumped straight to college engineering courses in his native Egypt. Seven months ago he moved to the US wanting to obtain a US education. Since he lacked some English and History courses required for college, he enrolled in New Drop High School. He had two requests: tools and a work space.

“Sometimes when I hold a tool I feel like it’s a part of my hand and I feel like a can handle anything,” he said in an interview last week. “When I think about what I want to do in the future, I just want to create.”

Mekky has already created a device that allows a computer mouse and keyboard to be used with winks and head motions, winning him first place at the New York City Science and Engineering Fair. This idea came from of friend of his who felt left out of Facebook chat because to his inability to use to a mouse from a birth defect with his hands.

“I thought about the alternatives for what part of the body you can use,” said Mekky, who said he “always thinks about disabled people” because he spent three months in a wheelchair recovering from injuries from a car accident in 2009.

Mekky wants to continue to create and invent new things. “Sometimes, I can’t sleep, especially if I have a new idea,” said Mekky. “I want to try it immediately, even if it’s 3 or 4 in the morning.”

To contact Mekky directly, call (718) 979-7410 or e-mail mohanad_alaa_tec@yahoo.com.