Gizmodo
A robotic wheelchair that loads itself into its owner's car using the same principles as a spaceship does when docking, has been developed by a team from Pennsylvania. An on-board computer uses LIDAR, or light detecting and ranging, to position the chair when it is loaded into a vehicle—exactly the same technique used by the space truck Jules Verne when it dropped in on the ISS last month.
The original idea was to use a camera and let the wheelchair user negotiate the passage of the wheelchair onto his or her vehicle's forklift attachment that lifts the wheelchair aboard. However, after this method proved to be too difficult, they went with plan B. This used an onboard computer that recognised the LIDAR system, used by the Jules Verne. It bounces laser light off two reflectors that are placed in the arm rests of the chair, keeping tabs on the chair's position and lining it up with the lifting device.
With a 97.5 percent success rate in tests, the project, a collaboration between researchers at Lehigh University in Bethlehem, PA, and a company called Freedom Sciences, is expected to go into production. The price is expected to be around $30,000. [NewScientist]
Comments
This is a pretty great idea offering the handicap a bit more independence. The only thing that concerns me is what happens if the unit malfunctions or the battery dies? Now the wheelchair is sitting somewhere near the rear of the vehicle with the owner stranded in the seat of his car. I am guessing this would be a rare occurrence, just wondering if there is some sort of safeguard from this kind of thing happening.
@TOWken22:That's a good question. I suppose that person would have other means with which to get help in such a case, such as using a phone to call for help. Seems like a small risk of this happening, compared to the benefits of some independence.
@TOWken22: That's where, just like in the rest of life, your fellow humans step in to A) laugh at you, then B) push the chair on the ramp for you.
My only question - they show this guy getting into the passenger seat of this van, then docking the chair. If he's riding shotgun (or backseat driver, as in this case), doesn't that imply that there's a driver who would be able to take care of pushing the chair to the back loading ramp?
If I were a wheelchair user, I'd probably wind up going the automated ramp route:
+ Watch video
@TOWken22: The only thing that concerns me is what happens if the unit malfunctions or the battery dies?
Well, there's always pulleys and levers...
Unless improved, this thing will malfunction 5 times for every 200 attempts.
What the researchers in PA should invent is a type of Veritech Cyclone for those that require wheelchair access. This way, they can just travel themselves instead of having to go on a van.
@FreeMan: I think that seat actually moves up into the drivers position, it is probably placed back there so there the moving components of that chair don't get in the way of a passenger side seat up front.
@FreeMan: This is for those who are alone, and don't have anyone around to assist.
Hooray for Lehigh!
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