When it came to class, the boy always sat in that position in the first row of the classroom.
He lowered his head and wrote his notes into the book, but his head trembled uncontrollably. His left hand squeezed the pen shaft vigorously, and his right hand curled up into a fist, against the book, and wrote every word with force. Because of the force, the left middle finger and ring finger often wear out, and later form two thick cocoons.
He is Liu Xin, a junior at Nanchang Hangkong University, who was diagnosed with cerebral palsy due to his mother's difficult delivery at birth, which led to lack of oxygen in his brain. The boy, whose legs could not stand upright and could not walk normally, got up on his own from the road of the fall, learned to ride a bicycle, and learned to swim. In junior high school, he did thirty push-ups with one hand to win respect from the kids who bullied him.
With a fighting spirit that did not accept defeat, Liu Xin successfully passed the college entrance examination and stepped into the university door in September 2018.
Seeing that the paraplegic senior was carried up and down the stairs by four or five people, he had the idea of making a smart wheelchair for him. Hazardous instruments such as cutting machines and electric drills were used in innovative projects, and his trembling hands were often injured by the cutting machine, sometimes with 5 or 6 Band-Aids on one hand. When the project was almost completed, the entire wheelchair fell off the stairs because of the FM problem. After 10 months of disillusionment, several members of the team started all over again with national bursaries.
In November 2020, the smart wheelchair was finally completed, and the project won the first prize in the national college students mechanical innovation design competition and won the national invention patent.
Including smart wheelchairs, Liu Xin has obtained 8 national patents. There was a dream in Liu Xin's heart, since he was a child, he wanted to be an inventor, and if God did not make something, he would make it. "If you don't admit your fate, you will lose if you admit your fate."
Liu Xin, a junior at Nanchang Hangkong University. Photo courtesy of Nanchang Hangkong University
A total of 8 national patents have been obtained to make intelligent wheelchairs for high paraplegic seniors
Beijing News: What are the 8 national patents you have obtained?
Liu Xin: They are electric vehicles in the water, 3D printers, controllable safety alcohol lamps, retractable nose gear, centrifugal flushers, all-terrain track type two-wheel drive photovoltaic intelligent obstacle crossing wheelchairs, and sports wheelchairs that can go up and down stairs. Among them, the controllable safety alcohol lamp was applied for before I went to college, and the circuit of the motor-accessible wheelchair was patented for invention, and its structure was patented for a utility model.
Beijing News: When was the controllable safety alcohol lamp made?
Liu Xin: I applied for this patent when I was a sophomore in high school, and I was authorized in my third year of high school. Because I was in a chemistry lab class, some classmates knocked over the alcohol lamp, resulting in a fire, and when I saw it, I wanted to make an alcohol lamp that would not catch fire even if it was overturned. At that time, I didn't think about any competitions to participate in, but I just wanted to make such a thing. So I bought my own materials and made one at home.
Beijing News: Why did the idea of making a smart wheelchair germinate at that time?
Liu Xin: When I was a freshman in college, I met a senior outside the classroom, who was in a wheelchair due to high paraplegia, and it was very difficult for four or five people to carry up the stairs. I asked him why he didn't buy a lifting wheelchair and he said the main problem was that the price was too expensive.
Beijing News: What is the price of lifting wheelchairs at home and abroad?
Liu Xin: At present, the domestic self-developed lifting wheelchair is about five or six thousand yuan, but at least one person is needed to assist in addition to the user. The price of foreign imported lifting wheelchairs is very expensive, non-intelligent about one or two million yuan, and smart wheelchairs that allow users to operate independently need about eight or nine million yuan. At that time, I had the idea of making a cheaper smart lifting wheelchair to help him.
When I was doing the project research, I learned that there are 80 million people in China who can't walk, and 200 million people have a hard time walking, including the elderly population over the age of 45 who have difficulty walking, and I wanted to design a new product to help these people.
Beijing News: What are the defects of the existing lifting wheelchair in addition to the price?
Liu Xin: As can be seen in the paper and design report, the current general non-intelligent wheelchair needs to be assisted by others, because this wheelchair is generally backwards on the stairs, the user can not see the situation in front, and in the process of going up the stairs, there is no way to walk in a straight line, if there is a declination angle at the beginning, with the wheelchair forward, the declination angle will become larger and larger, the narrow staircase will hit the wall, if the stairs are wide, the wheelchair will even roll over. There are also wheelchairs that advance up the stairs, but it also has disadvantages, this wheelchair is generally particularly large, about 150 kg, and the vibration when going up the stairs will be particularly large.
Beijing News: What improvements have you made to these defects?
Liu Xin: In response to the problem of large vibration when the wheelchair goes up the stairs, we used tracks instead of planetary wheels in the design of our wheelchair. The planetary wheel is a step-by-step process on the stairs, like a human foot, an intermittent process, and when we use the tracks, we turn it into a continuous process. I was inspired by the idea of using tracks, and I wondered if a wheelchair could also use this design to dampen.
Beijing News: Do you make a wheelchair that weighs less?
Liu Xin: The weight of our current wheelchair is about eighty kilograms, but it is also very heavy, and the direction of our later improvement is also to reduce its weight, and we also hope that it will support independent operation, can be intelligently lifted and lowered, and the price of the wheelchair is controlled within five thousand yuan.
Utility model patent certificate for all-terrain track type two-wheel drive photovoltaic intelligent obstacle crossing wheelchair. Photo courtesy of Nanchang Hangkong University
After 10 months of disillusionment, start all over again with a bursary advance
Beijing News: How is the project team formed?
Liu Xin: I began to design this wheelchair in June 2019, the original members of the team I found from various societies, are some people who are more interested in machinery, and then we need more members who know technology, through the teacher to find people who have won awards and achieved some results in various colleges, and finally there are about 20 people in the team.
Beijing News: In the process of the project, what difficulties have you encountered?
Liu Xin: We have encountered large and small difficulties, such as writing code for a month or two, which burned out in the instant of connection, and also in the test process, because the shock absorption structure failed, the wheelchair vibration amplitude was large.
In April 2020, our team encountered one of the biggest difficulties in the production process, when the team members left one after another, leaving only 5 members, and the whole project was almost completed. During the experiment, because of the problem of frequency modulation, the center of gravity was not properly adjusted, and the entire wheelchair fell from the upper floor. Because our team only made the one wheelchair, it fell down the stairs and broke down, which means that everything we made in ten months is scrapped, the important structure is gone, and we can only start from scratch.
Beijing News: Has the project come to a standstill because of this accident?
Liu Xin: After the failure, the team's work stagnated for a few days, and at the beginning we were very nervous and felt that there was no hope. After a few days, I found that although the things were gone, our data and experience were still there, and it wouldn't take a lot of time to do it again, so we all resumed work. That's how things are made.
Beijing News: What were you thinking about during the days of stagnation, and did you ever think about giving up on it?
Liu Xin: I never thought of giving up, just thinking about how to summarize the previous mistakes, to ensure that there will be no such a big accident in the next experiment, and at the same time how to improve the problems in the wheelchair. Later, when the team was at its most difficult, 3 people had a total of 6,000 yuan in state aid, and we used the money to top it, and the family also provided some support. After the school knew, it used 70,000 yuan to ensure that the project continued.
Beijing News: What stage is the project currently progressing to?
Liu Xin: This wheelchair project was completed in November last year, and won the first place in the province in the Jiangxi Provincial College Students Mechanical Innovation Design Competition, and then won the first prize in the National College Students Mechanical Innovation Design Competition and won the national patent. We then participated in the "Challenge Cup" competition and successfully advanced to the national competition on May 21. The materials for the national competition have been submitted, and our team has now discussed three options, mainly to make the wheelchair lighter and smaller.
Beijing News: Later, did the senior know the process of making this wheelchair?
Liu Xin: When the project was first designed, I told the seniors about making smart wheelchairs, mainly to understand some of their needs. After the wheelchair was made in November last year, I wanted him to try it, but considering his physical condition, I was afraid that he would encounter danger during the test, so I finally gave up. I hope that after the perfect finished product is made, the seniors can also use this wheelchair.
Beijing News: Have you ever thought about promoting the final finished product into the market?
Liu Xin: Whether the wheelchair can ultimately be promoted and entered the market mainly depends on the effect of the finished product, if the effect is good, everything will go smoothly, if the effect is not the same as we envision, it will take more time to improve and improve. If it can't be done at the undergraduate level, we also hope that we can continue to do it at the graduate level. I myself hope to be able to follow up on this project until it reaches the market.
A smart wheelchair made by Liu Xin and his team. Photo courtesy of Nanchang Hangkong University
With 200 push-ups and 30 pull-ups a day, exercise to earn yourself respect
Beijing News: You always sit in the first row when you are in class, how do you do this?
Liu Xin: At the beginning, because every time I first arrived at the classroom to occupy a seat, I always sat in the same position in the first row. Later, after a long time, the students also tacitly agreed that I would sit there, and occasionally a few times I did not arrive first, and everyone would help me vacate that position.
Beijing News: When you were a child, were you treated unfairly because of your disability?
Liu Xin: When I was a child, I would be ridiculed and ridiculed by the children in the same village, and although they did not dare to do anything to me, they would scold me. But this kind of bullying will not be too much. When I was a child, I couldn't stand being scolded by those children, and I would imagine fighting with them in my heart to win a fight. But then I felt that I still had to exercise my body well so that I wouldn't be bullied by others. I hung a sandbag at home and practiced against the wall every day.
Beijing News: In the end, how did you win their respect?
Liu Xin: I remember when I was in junior high school, they and I competed to do push-ups, the strongest children in their group could only do thirty, I could do thirty with one hand, the physical education teacher said I was very good, which made those naughty children look at me with surprise.
Liu Xin in a class at Nanchang Hangkong University. Photo courtesy of Nanchang Hangkong University
Beijing News: Are you still insisting on exercising?
Liu Xin: I used to get up at six o'clock every day, go to the exercise venue downstairs in the dormitory, and use the equipment such as single and double bars and dumbbells to exercise, practicing for half an hour each time. By ten o'clock in the evening, I'll be exercising for another forty minutes. Now because I have to be busy with projects, the time is more tight, so I don't go in the morning and only exercise at night. Guarantee 200 push-ups and 30 pull-ups per day. Exercise gives my hands more strength and increases the speed of writing.
Beijing News: What are the dreams in the future?
Liu Xin: At present, I am preparing for graduate school and want to take the major in weapons design and military industry and national defense. After that, I hope to participate in major projects in the country, and if I have the opportunity, I want to start a business.
Since I was a child, I wanted to be an inventor, and if God didn't make something, I would make it. God told me to do this, I'm going to do that. If you don't admit your fate, you will lose if you admit your fate.
Beijing News trainee reporter Guo Yimeng intern Lan Han
Edited by Liu Qian
Proofreading Li Lijun