The obligations of organizations (insurance, federal, local and state governments, etc.) is the major reason wheelchairs are classified as medical devices.

As always you can get whatever you want if you are willing to pay out of pocket. But when someone else pays, you can't.

Ahhh, the "chocolatey frozen dessert" of wheelchairs.

I can't stand the word "incumbent" anymore. I have only ever seen it in election contexts.

Now that Claude is using it as a fancy shortcut to "current", it's everywhere. I even hear people who would never think to use this word say it in face to face conversations.

Gotta love it when regulation meant to clarify, bring order and protect just ends up getting in the way and preventing entering the market.

> Let's say you've assembled a team and designed an awesome powered wheelchair. One that works better than incumbent designs and is easy on the eyes.

Well, have they? The article lists some very cool features, but those are also points of failure. They review process for medical products is onerous and could definitely be improved, but it does serve an important purpose.

The chair seems to put the user in a higher and more upright position than most, for example, which could make it easier to fall out.

The scenario seems like the system working perfectly as designed: enthusiasts have the opportunity to buy it on the open market, and once it's proven and makes it through the review process, it'll be more widely available through insurance as well.

As a resident of an independent living facility, I live among a lot of people who use various makes and models of powered chairs. And a great many who have the joystick dislike it immensely, and would prefer to have the handlebars-style navigation. But it's kind of the only way to have the "chair" style, nothing in front of you design. Some of the more scooter-style have rotating chairs, so you can park parallel to a table and turn, but that depends on lower limb mobility, so no easy solutions here.

The "climb a 13° slope, clear a 2-inch curb and cross a 4.7-inch gap" is quite impressive.

Reminds me of the situation with hearing aids. They're not particularly complicated devices compared to, say, $130 apple airpods. But because they were regulated as medical devices they often cost $3000 or more.

This has changed somewhat since 2022 now that they allow OTC hearing aids, although I believe they're still more expensive than airpods.

Leaving aside for a second that this post is clearly an ad.

There are reasons why you can't just say "here's a new wheelchair, have fun suckers!" and that's because a medical device is major part of someone's life and disruptions that would annoy healthy people can be life threatening to them. Worst case scenario you end up in a Second-Sight situation [1].

Let's take a random example: the page says "If you're heading down a steep slope, the powered wheels ease the descent". When the brakes of my bike suddenly stopped working on a steep slope I could just throw myself to the side and brake with my legs. If you're a using this "mobility device" as a wheelchair and this happens to you well, tough luck. You should have bought a wheelchair instead.

Do not "move fast and break things" when the things are actually people.

[1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30349871