Solution to Coffee-time Challengeme Challenge
The 'LiftMate Patient Handler' has been developed by Personal Lifting and consists of an array of inflatable compliant sleeves covering rigid hollow tines.
The array is brought up to the side of the patient and the sleeves then inflated so that they push underneath the patient. They inflate and curve upwards, in a similar manner, according to director Dr. Patrick Finlay, to the fingers of an inflated rubber glove. As the fingers inflate, the array of tines is inserted to give rigidity.
The patient may then be moved on the array of inflated sleeves. If the patient is to be sat, the array can be turned into a sitting shape, the array moved over the surface of a chair, and the tines removed and the sleeves deflated, to leave the patient sitting in the chair.
Dr. Finlay was previously project manager of the Medical Robotics initiative of the International Advanced Robotics Programme and is managing director of MediMaton. Co-directors of Personal Lifting are Steve Sandland and Lucius Cary. The Liftmate is protected by three patent applications.
