Artist Sue Austin is preparing to show off a prototype self-propelled underwater wheelchair to the public, BBC News reported.
Austin, who has been a wheelchair user since 1996, developed the chair with help from dive experts and academics. The model is powered by two dive propulsion vehicles and steered with a bespoke fin and foot-operated acrylic strip.
She is staging a performance with it in a swimming pool in Weymouth this week. "Creating the Spectacle" forms part of the Cultural Olympiad celebrations.
Austin says she first had the idea after learning to scuba dive in 2005.
Finding a suitable dive propulsion vehicle to propel the chair was initially difficult because most propeller models were designed to be hand-held and Austin lacked the strength to hold on to them. Eventually, she trialed a model that was designed for divers with disabilities – and then added two to the wheelchair.
Austin bought an NHS wheelchair for the project and spent months with her team perfecting its buoyancy. She initially designed flotation aids, but in the end found that simple swimming floats worked better.
"If you just put a thruster under the chair all the thrust is below the center of gravity so you rotate," she said. "It was certainly more acrobatic than I anticipated."
She modified the heel plates so that they formed fins at the backs of her heels and re-drilled the rubber straps to attach her legs to the acrylic "wings" she needed to steer the vehicle. The addition of the second thruster and fin meant that the wings were no longer practical but she kept them for aesthetic reasons.
The wheelchair also required a more robust seat to handle the pressure placed upon it during a performance. "I would love to create a version with hand controls – but I need my arms to be free for the performance," said Austin.
The wheelchair, which had patents pending and was as yet unnamed, was already in demand, she said. "We've had PADI [Professional Association of Diving Instructors] course directors and very experienced divers saying they would pay to hire it," she said.
