Project: MANTIS was my undergraduate thesis project. As an avid mountain biker, I first planned to design a downhill mountain bike. But I soon realized that most of the work would be focused on styling, not real problem-solving. During research, I discovered Jon Davis and Stacy Kohut—two athletes who raced downhill mountain bike wheelchairs. Their wheelchairs and stories inspired me to take the project in a new direction. Designing a downhill racing wheelchair presented more meaningful challenges and room for innovation.

I contacted both athletes to learn about the issues they faced with their current chairs and what they hoped could be improved. Two points stood out: 1) they wanted to maintain speed when coming out of corners or hitting jumps and 2) the seat and seating position couldn’t change—it was key to maneuverability, like in sit-skiing. That said, the seat still offered room for styling.

I based my final design on Davis’ open-front chair, which used control arms instead of handlebars. I connected the wheel hub extension thru a steering  rod linked to the control arms linked to a torsioned pivot bar under the frame, which allowed to remove the front axle and provide open access to the seat. To help maintain speed, I added small wheel motors to the rear wheels to provide quick power boosts, charged by the wheels like a dynamo. This gave the chair the appearance of a praying mantis.

The design was entered into the 2002 International Bicycle Design Competition in Taiwan. It reached the second round, which involved building a 1/3 scale model, and was selected as one of 24 finalists out of over 1,500 entries from 58 countries.