Dire situations bring out the best in humans. And war-torn Ukraine has been a reason for many lifesaving inventions that are not only helping here but also opening new avenues in places where the need may arise. One such creation is the Life Chariot: a lightweight offroad trailer for combat rescue and evacuation. Designed without typical emergency lighting and anything like the MEDEVAC vehicles, we usually see in evacuation missions, the rescue trailer is inspired by the ongoing conflict in Ukraine and its growing demand for healthcare and evacuation vehicles.
This Life Chariot is developed by Polish industrial designer, Piotr Tluszcz, who, recognizing the hardships of Ukrainian medics (trying to rescue lives from the war-shattered areas), wanted to build an all-terrain solution to help them with their evacuation missions. The Life Chariot is therefore made lightweight and comes with Da Orffo off-road suspension to make it easier and safer to rescue the wounded than in the truck, which the Ukrainian medics do at the moment.
Designer: Lodz Design
Given its novel, steel skeleton design and off-road suspension, this MEDEVAC-like trailer provides a convenient and smooth ride for the patient onboard. For this, the Life Chariot comes with an adjustable hitch to tow behind a capable vehicle and features a removable stretcher to accommodate one wounded person and two medics on either side, sitting stable on strapped seats with medical equipment overhead for easy access.
Riding smoothly over any terrain, the trailer helps medical evacuation teams in conflict zones and other challenging environments to help them carry out rescues briskly and with the least danger to any parties. When the injured person in need of medical assistance is strapped up to the stretcher, the medics can hop onboard and cover the protective steel skeleton body of the trailer with a fireproof tarpaulin and allow the stretcher into its stipulated mount through the side or rear.
The trailer, which is more like a steel-caged contraption at first sight, also has an additional stretcher mount on the supposed roof. Two such Life Chariots have already been handed to the Ukrainian military and one to a voluntary Polish medic unit for testing. The Life Chariot was recently awarded the James Dyson Humanitarian Award. The designer is looking to utilize the prize money and the feedback from Ukrainian and Polish units for the betterment of the rescue trailer.
