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With a little re-branding and a helping “leg” from technology, this wheelchair is ready for the 21st century.

Profhand, the company behind the wheelchair that encourages people to use their legs, has been around since 2009, but you won’t be able to find much information about them since as of June 21, the company renamed itself. Now called Cogy, pronounced like “corgi” but without the “r”, the company hopes to harness the emerging virtual reality boom and combine the technology with their inspiring wheel chair design.

▼ Their chair in action. It’s quite inspirational.

The chair designed by Tohoku University Professor Emeritus, Yasunobu Handa and his graduate team, is the world’s first wheelchair that “requires” the use of your legs. Rather than depending on signals from your brain to move your legs, which paralysis victims often can’t do, the Cogy promotes a reaction from the spine. It might look like you are pedaling non-stop, but braking only requires a quick squeeze on the brake lever, much like a bicycle.

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▼ This handle can also instantly turn the wheelchair.

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▼ Color options. Excellent!

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The Cogy VR System is another important part of the re-branding and will utilize the latest technology to provide fun and helpful rehabilitation to the users.  By adding a sensor in the pedals that sends data to the app, it can measure foot pressure which will allow a user to get a better sense of balance and achieve a smooth center of gravity.

▼ Just going for a pedal down the street.

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▼ How the app looks

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The psychological effects of losing the mobility of your legs can be absolutely devastating to people with paralysis and many people who suffer from it dream of a day when they can use their legs again. While this isn’t exactly walking, the Cogy wheelchair does provide a way to move your body with the power of your “legs”, and just the idea of doing that can be incredibly uplifting to victims and their friends and family. You only need to see the smiles on people’s faces to know that this new wheelchair is doing exactly what Cogy wants it to do.

Source: Cogy via Kai-You
Images: Cogy