This study discusses either the historical (dyachronous analysis) or the current (synchronous analysis) evolution of the manual mechanic standard turnable wheelchair, in the Center-west of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil, according to the analytic techniques by Gui Bonsiepe et al. (1984). It reveals a part of the products destined to the handcaps, rarely studied either in the Health or in the Technological area. It begins presenting a classification according to the degree of technological complexity and it concludes showing that nowadays there is a gap in this wheelchair group. This gap represents a market niche, which has not been conquered by the manufacturing companies of wheelchairs.
Wheelchair; Product development; Product design; Product planning
