CHENNAI: IIT-Madras on Monday handed over the first batch of 25 indigenously developed YD One ultra-lightweight wheelchairs to Army Hospital (Research and Referral), the apex medical facility of the Armed Forces Medical Services under Ministry of Defence, located in Delhi cantonment.

The handover marks the first tranche of a 100-wheelchair programme being implemented by IIT-M under a corporate social responsibility (CSR) partnership funded by Fiserv, the global provider of payments and financial technology services. The remaining 75 wheelchairs will be delivered in subsequent batches over the coming months, said a statement issued by the institution.

The YD One wheelchairs are manufactured by Thryv Mobility, an IIT-M-incubated company specialising in the design and manufacture of high-quality, ultra-lightweight active wheelchairs. The wheelchairs have been developed at IIT-M’s TTK Centre for Rehabilitation Research and Device Development in collaboration with Thryv Mobility, with co-design input from wheelchair users.

Retired rear admiral Deepak Bansal, professor of practice at IIT-M, has been instrumental in forging civil-military fusion besides mentoring young faculty, and connecting the dots between academia, industry, and the military establishment with the objective of reaching indigenous assistive technologies to those who need these devices most critically.