As he watched the conflict unfold in Ukraine, young Polish inventor Piotr Tłuszcz observed the challenges of medical evacuations across the rough terrain of the frontline.
This inspired him to design The Life Chariot, a MEDEVAC off-road ambulance that can attach to any vehicle with a towing hook or eye.
The vehicle’s low weight and suspension make it safer for a casualty to travel in than the boot of a car—the typical method for the often-stretched Ukrainian Defense Forces.
Piotr’s interest in designing trailers started with off-road trips with his family through the Balkans and Pyrenees. He then spent the next 10 years and the course of his bachelor’s and master’s degrees designing off-road and cave rescue trailers, before creating The Life Chariot which debuted at the Łódź Design Festival this year.
The Life Chariot increases the evacuation capabilities of rescue teams by adding room for one injured person on a stretcher and two more seats for medics or the lightly wounded. (Watch it in action in a video below…)
The first two trailers were given to the Ukrainian Medical Military Unit and the Polish Voluntary Medic Unit of Damian Duda “W Międzyczasie” Foundation, having been tested in terrains such as mountain trails, forests, caves, and mines. Their feedback provided and informed weatherproofing upgrades.
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“This year the James Dyson Award gives a special Humanitarian prize to Piotr, who has designed an ingenious way of recovering injured people from challenging terrain,” said Sir James Dyson, Founder and Chief Engineer at Dyson in a statement.
“The Life Chariot can be towed by anything—allowing medics to do their life-saving work with the resources they have at hand. It’s also brilliant to see his iterative design process continue in response to feedback from those using it on the ground.”
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Piotr is continuing to implement upgrades to The Life Chariot based on feedback received from medics working on the front line. He is also working on adapting the vehicle for mountain rescue purposes.
“I hope that The Life Chariot, with support from the James Dyson Award, will continue to save lives, whether in frontline evacuations or rescues from accidents in inaccessible places,” Piotr said on the occasion of the award.
SEE Piotr’s invention and THEN his reaction to his recognition by Dyson…
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