2. Stefan's incredible journey of inventions
The personal story of how I fell in love with the art of inventing took place more than 7 years ago with practically little or no
warning.
It all started when I got a call from my sister in New Zealand that my mum’s knees had suddenly gone extremely weak
resulting in her having fell no less than 7 times in just one day. At age 80 and with a frail body, how could she take it and so
since the falls, she got so scared of walking by herself that my sister has to take up all her time looking after her. Furthermore
when it came to bathing time, it was an even more difficult task for her because they were using a bathtub. My sister asked
me to try to imagine how difficult it is for mum to lift her legs in order to climb inside. And as if that is not difficult enough, the
task of having to pull her out of the bathtub later was even more strenuous and dangerous.
From that time onwards I started to think. If it is so difficult for my mum to take a bath even with my sister around, what about
those families whose children are not around. If they suddenly are struck down by illness such as a stroke etc, then how are
they going to take a bath without outside assistance? I started to do a lot of research to find out whether there are any special
bathing devices or handicap bathtubs that are specially designed for people like my mum. However to my surprise and
disappointment there were hardly any commendable innovations which I could termed them as being helpful for such people.
And while I was researching more on this subject, my attention was attracted by yet something more serious. It seems
advocates of bathroom safety were astounded by the high incidence of bathing-related deaths. According to the National
Safety Council, one person dies everyday from using bathtub/shower in the United States. Of the 24,000 accidental deaths of
people over the age of 65 every year, many are bathing related. I told myself, wow this is serious!
Imagine, bathtub related deaths during a three years period exceeded those due to handgun accidents, all forms of road
vehicles accidents (excluding motor vehicles), ladders and scaffolding falls, and ignition of clothing.(refer to
http://idea.ap.buffalo.edu/ publications/Bathing%20for%20Older%20People.htm)
Since that moment my heart was all for this group of people. I promised myself that no matter whatever it takes, I will put in
my everything to come out with an innovation which can one day help all these poor souls so that they need not have to
endure so much difficulties and risk just for taking their daily bath.

3. In order for me to fully understand the kind of hindrance experienced by people with mobility difficulties, I decided to get first
hand information from a handicapped centre situated in Overseas Union Garden called ShuangFu Disable People Centre
(http://www.shuangfu.org/). After I have explained my purpose of the visit, the co-founder of the centre, Madam Shen Chiu
Siang who is a disabled person herself was very happy and interested in my proposal to collaborate with them in order to
produce initially a bathtub which can be use by the disabled and later a wheelchair which can dissipate away the pressure
exerted on the buttocks due to extended time sitting on it. Other than that, they also hope that I can help them to come out
with some small little gadgets to help them overcome the daily obstacles that they have to go through. Since then, I continue
to visit them on a frequent basis and every time I come out with an idea, I will quickly run over and seek their comments and
advise.
Finally after a year of trial and error, I managed to come out with my first portable walk-in bathtub called PlaxiBATH String
Collar Model. In order to make it light and cheaper to produce, I purposely designed it to be fabricated out of water proof
fabric. After another year of research and refining, I managed to upgrade it into a more modern and solid design although the
downside of it was that it will be much more expensive and decided to name it PlaxiBATH Draw Bridge Model. In order to test
whether this model is workable, I went ahead to appoint an engineering group in China to help me to make a prototype of this
bathtub.
Another year of more R&D plus further refining the shape and body, this time I created a bathtub whose is so revolutionary
that I was pretty sure that it is going to be the first ever bathtub that can rotate in the world. In line with its ability to rotate, I
decided to name it RotoBATH which simply means "rotating bathtub". Frankly speaking I was so intrigued by it that I was sure
that even those people who dread taking a bath in the past will this time be more than eager to take it because it is so easy to
gain access into the bathtub and enjoy all its facilities. Taking a bath inside this device I called the bath of the future is
guaranteed to be very enjoyable and most importantly safe. Imagine when someone is old and weak, even in their wildest
dream they will never dream of one day they could still be able to take a soak-in-water bath in their present condition. To them
If they are able to get to the bathroom without any incident, they would already want to thank God for it.

4. And in their kind of condition the best they can hope for is a basic shower bath. I sincerely believed that this kind of bathtub
will surely be most welcome by these users. And if these were introduced to Japan, they would even be more highly treasured
by the Japanese because traditionally they like to soak in a bath and not a shower.
Then one day I read about the existence of some fold away wheelchairs shower stalls produced by a number of companies in
the US as well as Europe. According to their websites, they claimed that they are the only truly portable showers, and that they
are the only fully assembled showers available in the market where no assembly or construction is required. After studying
them I realized that yes, they are really very useful for those who have an immediate need of a separate/temporary bathroom
due to the occurrence of some unforeseen disability. However when I looked at their prices straight away I tell myself, there
must be another way of producing such units so that they can be more affordable to those in need. Thank God soon an idea
came to me and PlaxiBATH ClicknLock was born. If you think of the Tupperware type of containers where the side flaps
interlocked with one another to form a tight lid over a container, this system is exactly how it works in my innovation. Other
than being designed to be sold at very reasonable prices, they are also light weight, easy to assemble and easy to store. And
furthermore they are also useable by those on a wheelchair.
Of course when I think about it not every aged senior or handicap person is poor and so in order to be able to cater to each
and every group, I decided that I should also create some luxurious high-end models so that there is also a model available for
the rich and super rich. Finally PlaxiBATH Dream-Maker joined the series. PlaxiBATH Dream-Maker comes with everything
that you can find in a Jacuzzi plus it has a door that operates just like a roller shutter. It is also portable and can be move to
any part of the house.
Other than the above, on many occasions while cracking my head over how to overcome some technical issues concerning
my bath devices, I would suddenly stumbled over something totally unrelated and silly me would start working on the other
unrelated item at the same time. As a result over the years I have accumulated quite a few inventions which at last count
totaled more than 12 innovations. The only problem with me is that I loved to create and invent but don't know when and how
to stop and so these innovations are pilling up on me and suffocating me. In the past, just paying for the patent fees alone cost
me more than a million Ringgit and if that is not bad enough, I still need to fork out another RM30K a month just to sustain the
payment for renewals as most of my innovations are patented in between 10 to 15 countries worldwide. My patent agent
described me as foolish and greedy. And within the next 6 months, I am expecting another 2 to 3 innovations to be granted
patents and that will certainly burn another big hole in my pocket.

5. Just to share with you how unrelated my other innovations are to my bathtubs, do take a look at their peculiarity. The other
innovations I have inside my hands are:
1) Flood control barriers (several versions from light to heavy duty),
2) Height adjustable road bumps
3) inflatable & portable platform (a few variations and types)
4) Tsunami and water rescue craft
5) Wheelchairs with self-balancing centre of gravity
6) Exercise device for handicap & people with mobility difficulties
Since my mum’s incident till today, (I am so sad that before my innovation could come into reality, my mum passed away at
the beginning of last year) it has always been a dream of mine to design an old age home where the facilities available for the
users are designed with ease of use and safety in mind so that they can lead a more independent and comfortable life.
Hopefully I can find that someone soon to collaborate with in order to make this dream come true.
In the meanwhile I am still continuing my research and development of some new and interesting gadgets and devices
whenever my mind is free. I am still trying to find a way to stop….it is so much like asking someone to stop smoking!