In collaboration with Chennai headquartered Phoenix Medical Systems, the Indian Institute of Technology Madras, launched India’s first in-house designed wheelchair Arise that enables a disabled person in a wheelchair to shift from sitting to standing position, and vice versa, independently, and in a controlled manner.
The device was designed by the Institute’s TTK Center for Rehabilitation Research and Device Development under the guidance of professor Sujatha Srinivasan from the Mechanical Engineering department of the college. Srinivasan is also head of the Research Center.
An ‘Affordable Healthcare in India’ award from Wellcome, a foundation in the U.K. that funds science and health research projects, enabled the researchers and manufacturing partners to commercialize the concept. Priced at $211 the wheelchairs are set to hit the markets soon.
Last updated: December 26th, 2025
