A Polish humanitarian project by Piotr Tłuszcz has won a special prize in the international James Dyson Award 2023 competition. The young inventor constructed the Chariot of Life – a vehicle for transporting the injured with a universal off-road trailer.

“In this year’s James Dyson Award competition, we awarded a special prize for a Humanitarian Project. This was awarded to Piotr, who created an ingenious solution for evacuating injured people in difficult terrain. The Chariot of Life can be attached to any vehicle, enabling rescuers to do their vital work even in very demanding conditions. It is also worth noting that in creating his invention, Piotr takes an iterative approach and incorporates feedback from people using the trailer in the field”, says James Dyson, Dyson’s founder, and chief engineer.

The invention was developed in response to the problems associated with medical evacuation in a difficult terrain, during the war in Ukraine. The Chariot of Life is an off-road medical evacuation trailer that can be attached to any vehicle equipped with a hitch. It is lightweight and has a suspension that allows it to be transported even in severe off-road conditions.

The trailer provides the ability to transport the injured more safely compared to standard vehicles for this purpose. The Chariot of Life enhances the efficiency of rescue operations – the stretcher equipment makes it possible to position one injured person, and the additional seats are designed for rescuers or victims with light injuries.

The first two models, tested in difficult terrains such as mountain trails, forests, caves or mines, were given to a Ukrainian military medical unit and a Polish battlefield rescue team.

Dyson’s main international award was won by a team from Korea – authors of The Golden Capsule, an intravenous infusion (drip) device designed for use during a disaster.

Arkadiusz Słomczyński