Many patients recovering from a stroke, arthritis, cerebral palsy, or general deconditioning from long hospital stays suffer from loss of strength and the inability to independently move around. Thus, a Manual Patient Operated Wheelchair Rehabilitation Device helps patients rehabilitate and move independently in a wheelchair.

By choosing to create the device that is fitted to the wheelchair used by the Free Wheelchair Mission (FWM), MPOWRD can be used in many developing countries that do not have the privilege and opportunity to invest in expensive devices for rehabilitation. FWM has provided almost a million wheelchairs to more than 91 countries around the world.

The project is aimed at creating a wheelchair rehabilitation device that can be detached from the wheelchair and transported independently. In doing so, the objectives are to minimize the tools needed for assembly and minimize the complexity through the design and the amount of materials used.

Although there are many devices like this on the market, MPOWRD will be the first of its kind that can snap on and off the wheelchair, to resolve the issue of bulkiness and the difficulty of transportation.