Rough-terrain wheelchair vehicle invented

TAMPA, Fla., April 28 (UPI) -- A University of South Florida spinoff company in Tampa has sold its first student-originated rolling wheelchair platform to a Mississippi man.

The Tampa Tribune reported the company, Rehab Ideas, sold a Mobili T Rover to Michael Foradori of Booneville, Miss., Monday. The company, which licenses and markets USF engineering students' and faculties' inventions, created the rolling platform on which a self-powered wheelchair may be installed. The vehicle, guided by the wheelchair's controls, resembles a dune-buggy, with heavy-duty tires and a roll bar.

Foradori, who has been paralyzed from an injury for eight years since age 15, will resume his former hunting and fishing activities in the woods near his home. He will be able to cover the uneven terrain he could not have done in an ordinary wheelchair.

Travis Watkins, a USF engineering student, invented the rover for his father who is disabled by amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (Lou Gehrigs's Disease).

The report said the company is producing 10 rovers, selling for $7,495 each, and has gotten inquiries from several states.