The Champaign startup IntelliWheels will release its new product, the Easy Push, in January. The Easy Push is a new set of wheels that are added onto any manual wheelchair in order to increase mobility.

IntelliWheels was funded by venture capitals from Serra Ventures in Champaign and Crestlight Venture Productions in California. Angel investors in the local community and individual investors who wished to remain anonymous also contributed. IntelliWheels also received a Small Business Innovation Research grant from the National Institutes of Health.

Scott Daigle is the co-founder, president and CEO of IntelliWheels and a University alumnus. He came up with the idea of the Easy Push in 2009 while he was an undergraduate in mechanical engineering at the University. He was inspired by the students using wheelchairs on campus and came up with the idea to add gears on a wheelchair in order to make it easier to get around.

“It was a really simple idea,” he said. “It’s all just hard work and determination of continuing to perfect it and make it better until you have something that really can be used by the masses and could help a lot of people.”

After working on the product for three years, Daigle said he is ready to launch the product.

Daigle compared the Easy Push to the gears of a bicycle. He said that when someone on a bicycle switches to a lower gear, it makes it easier to peddle.

“What happens is that there’s a force-multiplication effect,” he said. “You get a mechanical advantage, so when you push with one pound of force (on the hand rim), you get two pounds of force (on the wheel). You push more to get the same distance, but it takes less force to get there, making it easier on somebody’s shoulders.”

Marissa Siebel, co-founder of IntelliWheels, also graduated from the University. Siebel said the easy use of the product makes it a good alternative to a power chair.

“The Easy Push may be the right fit for people who are aging and have limited strength, as well as for people of any age who have limited strength, endurance, or coordination,” she said in an email. “We see the Easy Push as a healthy, safe option that provides independence.”

Mary Griffith, sophomore in DGS, said she dislikes the amount of effort she has to put into manual wheelchairs.

“I have an old, junky manual wheelchair back home that would be hard to push around campus and effectively get to my classes,” she said.

Daigle and Siebel, along with Josh George, director of public relations and marketing for IntelliWheels and Paralympic gold medalist, have been working on developing and testing prototypes, making marketing materials, attending trade shows and searching for investments over the past few years.

When developing the Easy Push, IntelliWheels focused on wheelchair users’ feedback.

“Throughout the process, wheelchair users on campus have been interviewed to gain their perspective on what technology would work best for them,” Siebel said.

IntelliWheels has recently tested the Easy Push at the Clark-Lindsey Retirement Village in Urbana. Five of the residents were allowed to use Easy Push for a one-month trial period.

“A lot of people were able to regain mobility,” Daigle said. “They were able to push themselves without any trouble. In fact, we had one patient who was able to, for the first time, push herself in a manual wheelchair and was able to get from her room to dinner without anybody assisting her.”

IntelliWheels will launch the Easy Push locally before it goes nationwide later in the year. Daigle said the product will be available to certain medical equipment suppliers and hospitals, and consumers can potentially be reimbursed by Medicare.

Jacqueline can be reached [email protected].