A Indian startup, set up by graduates from Chennai's Institute of Technology, is transforming wheelchairs into disabled-friendly motorcycles.

Footage filmed on January 26 shows Muqeeth from Hyderabad clipping their wheelchair onto the device which resembles the front half of a regular motorcycle.

Neomotion, the tech startup, built an initial model that was deemed not safe or sturdy enough to be driven on city roads.

They then built a model which included a wheelchair made from mild steel costing around £1,174.

The new model can reach a speed of 25 km/h and is powered by a 250-watt battery which takes around four hours to charge.

Sidharth Daga of Neomotion said: “It has passed rigorous safety tests and is ISO certified."

An Indian startup, set up by a team of young graduates from Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Chennai, promises to turn wheelchairs into motorcycles and help disabled persons become truly mobile.

The Neomotion team built the device, Neo Bolt, as a universal attachment to any wheelchair. You could just latch on your wheelchair to it and drive around.

But they quickly realised that most wheelchairs, built for gentle internal movement, were not safe or sturdy enough to drive on city roads. So, they developed Neo Fly, a wheel chair made of mild steel, which can be attached to Neo Bolt and driven around.

Sidharth Daga of Neomotion said: “Neo Fly is customised on 18 counts to meet the unique needs of users. It has passed rigorous safety tests and is ISO certified.”

Videos shared by Neomotion shows Muqeeth, a user in Hyderabad, attaching his Neo Fly wheelchair to Neo Bolt and then zipping around to take care of his daily chores.

Neo Bolt comes with three speed limits and can achieve a maximum speed of 25 kms/hour. It is powered by a 250 watt battery, which takes four hours to charge and yields a mileage of 30 kms/charge. Each unit of Neo Fly and Neo Bolt costs Rs 1,18,000 (GBP 1,174).

Finalising the design in 2015, Neo Motion set up a supply chain to source 140 parts of Neo Fly from 30 vendors. They sold 25 Neo Flys in 2018 and 330 units last year. Their effort to replicate the supply chain for Neo Bolt was hampered by the Covid 19 lockdown.

“We have a handful of Neo Bolts on the road now and in the next three months, we will scale them up to around 100,” said Sidharth.