14 DAY TRIAL // The solar-powered wheelchair featured in the picture above fetched a team of University of Virginia engineering students an impressive $20,000 (€15,289).
Not because they've sold it, but because this was the first prize at the Change My World in One Minute competition, which, naturally, they’ve won.
The students say that, in order to develop this solar-powered wheelchair, they drew inspiration from convertible cars.
As Inhabitat reports, what interested them first and foremost was how the technology behind these vehicles' retractable roofs works.
These bits and pieces of information allowed them to attach retractable custom-made solar panels to the wheelchair they were working on.
They say that, because the solar panels can move about, they make it easier for the wheelchair to be stored.
The same source informs us that the wheelchair is made from lightweight materials, which the students claim are fairly tough.