Custom Wheelchair

Dylan Alcott and Heath Davidson, Wheelchair Tennis

The AIS Applied Technology and Innovation team, Paralympics Australia and Toyota Australia (Olympic and Paralympic partner) were responsible for producing a custom-designed wheelchair for six-time tennis Grand Slam champion Dylan Alcott and his doubles partner Heath Davidson.

‘Quite early on we realised that the standard architecture of the wheelchair tennis chair that Dylan was using would not allow us to create a performance-based interface between the athlete and the frame’, said AIS Senior Sport Engineer Matt Crawford.

The project team was also working on how to minimise pressure injuries, which required them to use a pressure map to identify the main points of contact, similar to what is used in automotive and aircraft seating and the disability sector. Once the seat has been designed, the team used data, technology and engineering to fine tune the chair to maximise performance and comfort.