Wheelchair users like me can often find it difficult to exercise since most gym equipment is designed for able-bodied people.
Wheelchair treadmills (or similar devices) exist, but I’ve never seen one I’d like to use. Thankfully, a chance encounter with Korean start-up Kangsters at CES 2024 showed me a device I’d love to own — the Wheely-X.
The Wheely-X combines fitness and gaming. Kangsters' device integrates a treadmill with a wheelchair. It features advanced sensors that allow a user to control speed and direction through gestures on a mobile app. The mobile app has a range of different options to accommodate diverse mobility levels.
The device has two sets of steel rollers and two ramps connected to the rollers. The rollers keep you in place as you wheel, and thanks to the design, you can independently roll each wheel. The Wheely-X doesn’t take up much space and it’s easy to disassemble it when you’re done exercising.
What makes the Wheely-X unique is that you can play exercise video games when it’s connected to a computer and monitor. I played a wheelchair racing game where I competed against NPCs on a race track (I won, if you must know). Another demo had me wheeling an avatar over ice … which was a bit trickier. There was even a first-person bike racing game that took me a few tries to figure out. The variety of exercise games makes exercising more fun and challenging.
Kangsters says it wants to usher in a future where wheelchair gaming and disabled esports become mainstream. The company hopes that mobility challenges can become opportunities for innovation. That’s a lofty goal, but it’s not unrealistic.
The Wheely-X is available now for $2,595. That’s not cheap, but if it can help wheelchair users stay in shape (and do so by playing some games), I think the price is more than reasonable.
This is exactly the kind of device I’ve been looking for, especially since it combines exercise with gaming. The Wheely-X is easily one of the most innovative things I’ve seen at CES 2024.
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