Mr Tan Ban Ho and the "Hover-chair"

Last year, we spotted Mr Tan Ban Ho pushing his wheelchair-bound wife on a unicycle. Every day, he rides his unicycle and takes his wife, who has dementia, outdoors for a ride. The 72-year-old’s dedication to his wife touched the public’s hearts and his post went viral. (You can view the photo album here: http://bit.ly/tanbanhopics and video here: http://bitly.com/tanbanhovid)

A former Institute of Technical Education, Singapore lecturer who taught electronics, Mr Tan's innovative spirit always burns strong. Today, he returns with an invention that fuses a hoverboard with a wheelchair. He tells us:

“I realise many wheelchair-bound seniors struggle to push themselves upslope as their arms lack strength. In addition, my daughter was ill and her mobility was affected. All these inspired me to devise a method to help people on wheelchairs move about easily. I realised that the easiest way to do so is to use the legs, and that was how I thought of attaching a hoverboard to the wheelchair.

"I used some aluminium blocks to attach the hoverboard to the wheelchair and a PVC pipe to prevent the board from spinning. It took me less than a week to complete this. In total, I spent less than $250… inclusive of the hoverboard! I am already working on another invention and once I am done with it, I will call you to interview me again!”

#SuccessfulAgeingSG

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