Mobility devices and How to Build them

What:

A mobility device or mobility aid is a medical product that is intended for disabled people. The goal is to help them move long distances without any help. We aren’t talking about skateboards but rather Canes and walkers.

Mobility products, therefore, need to be reliable, sturdy, and easy to move around. Today’s most common mobility products are :

• Crutches and canes
• Walkers
• Manual Wheelchairs
• Mobility Scooters
• Electric Wheelchairs

Each one of these stands out and is designed with a particular use case in mind, they appeal to different types of disabilities and allow various degrees of autonomy. These also vary in price and can be relatively complex like an electric wheelchair.

Why:

Aiming to develop mobility devices can prove to be a very fulfilling business. You will be helping people daily and allowing them to do more things, making their disabilities less visible.

As we keep moving towards autonomous vehicles, it seems that mobility is an important trend for the coming decade. Mobility products shouldn’t be excluded from that trend and it might be an important aspect of the coming transition.

The space also lacks connectivity, as most mobility devices are intended for use by themselves, they lack connectivity, a feature that could potentially be implemented if there is a market demand for it.

How:

Going over the types of mobility devices today, it seems that most of them are fairly straightforward. We’ll go over the price ranges of these devices to give you an idea of the budget for each of them and what most people look to upgrade in them.

• Canes - Anywhere from $15 / $175 depending on the build quality, materials used, and the base of the cane, is it a single tip, or are there multiple.
• Walker - $30 / $100 Also depending on the materials used, most often steel, aluminum, titanium, and plastic.
• Rollator - $70 / $600 Also depending on the materials used, most often steel, aluminum, titanium, and plastic.
• Manual Wheelchair - $125 / $2000 The quality and price of the chair depend on the materials used but also the accessibility features it holds. Is it easy to disassemble and carry around or not ?
• Electric Wheelchair - $1500 / $5000 Just like its manual counterpart, the price of this electric wheelchair depends on the motors used, the qualities of the batteries, and the quality or precision of the electric sensors.
• Mobility Scooter - $800 / $4000 A scooter is very similar to a wheelchair, it’s, however, bulkier, requires more maintenance, and isn’t intended to be foldable. It’s therefore much harder to carry around or transport in a car for example.

As we look at these types of devices, it can be worthwhile to understand what the demand is. Let’s take a look at the most common upgrades people choose when buying such a device.

• Anti-tippers: these are rubber add ons that provide stability.

• Seat cushions: Extra comfort
• Extra batteries: To go the extra mile
• Seat belt: Safety features
• Harness: Safety features once more
• Grip: Stability

Looking at these bonus features, it seems that users are willing to pay a fee for safety, comfort, and extra stability. Keep those in mind as you build a business in this domain.

        As the world population grows older, the mobility device sector is expected to grow 6% per year. We’ve looked at the most common types of mobility devices and what people put an emphasis on. Comfort, safety, and stability.