Gizmodo: wheelchairs

Toyota Scientists Succeed in Thought-Controlled Wheelchair

Stephen Climpson — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 13:20:00 EDT

Sure, brain wave-controlled robots, music, cell-phones, and games give us tech lust, but Toyota's announcement that it's developed a way to control a wheel chair—without the need for movement or voice—fills me with equal amounts of awesome.

Seeing technology applied in a field that has the potential to help so many makes for a nice change sometimes, ya know? The breakthrough comes from scientists at the BSI-Toyota Collaboration Center, which teams various groups including Toyota Motor and the mostly-Japanese-government-funded RIKEN
research unit).

At this stage, the system centers on an electroencephalograph (EEG) scanner cap that the wheelchair user wears so their brain waves can be scanned and analyzed by a computer. The result is the ability to make movements almost in real time. Stopping is reportedly a little harder, with the user having to puff up a cheek to trigger a detector worn on the face. Still, that's pretty freakn'cool. [Jalopnik]

H-ergo Wheelchair: Fuel Cells Aren't Just For Young Whippersnappers

Wilson Rothman — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 22:30:00 EDT

Even the Scooter Store demographic is getting greener these days. The four-wheeled H-ergo was designed by a coalition of companies in Italy with a hydrogen fuel cell for up to 2 hours of clean running.

It's not fast: 20km/h is what, like 13mph? So, slower than most sprinters and many joggers. And its two 800-watt electrical motor wheels can't yet run all day. But the thing, developed in part by a group of Italian automotive parts makers called From Concept To Car, and in part from various Italian government agencies and universities, is technically more environmentally correct than the standard plug-in scooter.

Not only is it cute, Italian and super green, but that name sells itself. I already came up with the first advertising slogan: "I hate to see her leave but I love to see H-ergo." [Autoblog Green]

Wiimote Wheelchair Helps Disabled People Paint (Roughly Speaking)

Benny Goldman — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 23:30:55 EDT

Digital Wheel Art, a wheelchair painting program to help disabled people make art, was on display at the Maker Faire event in NYC tonight. Creator YoungHyun Chung was inspired to create the device after seeing children with cerebral palsy whose limited movement stifled their artistic expression. Here's how it works, plus a video of the system in action.

The system works by sending data from a Wiimote attached to a wheelchair over Bluetooth to a painting program displayed on the screen. The program draws lines based on the path of the wheelchair, and the user can change colors by tilting his or her head on a ball on the right side of the chair, which cycles through the different options. The finished product may not look like a masterpiece to some, but for people who couldn't show off their artistic chops before, it's a great first step. [Digital Wheel Art, Maker Faire—Picture at top from Digital Wheel Art site]

Robotic Wheelchair Uses Lasers to Dock Like a Spaceship

AddyDugdale — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 12:30:00 EDT

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]

Wheelchair Backflip Makes Truck Backflip Seem Less 'Extreme'

Adam Frucci — Fri, 04 Jan 2008 10:42:08 EST

While recently a daredevil was forced to cancel a backflip in a truck because he broke his back doing some practice runs, this daredevil already has a broken back. Aaron Fotheringham was born partially paralyzed from the waist down. I guess he figured risking being fully paralyzed from the waist down wasn't all that big a deal, because he started doing tricks in his wheelchair, leading up to this insane full-on backflip. Sure makes guys that use broken backs as an excuse for getting out of stunts seem less ballsy, no? [Spulch]

Mind Controlled Wheelchair

Jason Chen — Fri, 11 Aug 2006 16:00:29 EDT

This prototype mind-controlled wheelchair developed from the University of Electro-Communications in Japan lets you feel like half Professor X and half Stephen Hawking—except with the theoretical physics skills of the former and the telekinetic skills of the latter. A little different from the Brain-Computer Typing machine we saw a while back, this thing works by mapping brain waves when you think about moving left, right, forward or back, and then assigns that to a wheelchair command of actually moving left, right, forward or back.

The result of this is that you can move the wheelchair solely with the power of your mind. This device doesn't give you MIND BULLETS (apologies to Tenacious D) but it does allow people who can't use other wheelchairs get around easier. – Jason Chen

Nikkei Net(Japanese) [via Pink Tentacle via slashgear]

TREKINETIC Wheelchairs

johnb — Fri, 23 Jun 2006 18:05:24 EDT

Wow. Now that is some nice design. These TREKINETIC wheelchairs are built for off-road and city riding and include shock absorbers and high-performance brakes.

Plus, they're completely foldable and look way cooler than the metal monstrosities we've seen up until now.

The page has reached its bandwidth quota, unfortunately, but MedGadget has most of the data. Here's a Google Cache. – John Biggs

Product Page [Trekinetic via MedGadget]

TankChair

johnb — Wed, 19 Apr 2006 14:11:59 EDT

Can I get a "Yeah?" Look at this thing—it's a wheelchair tank designed for all-terrain use. We think the story says it all:

My wife, five kids and I were in a cabin in the woods. To our surprise a herd of elk came walking through our camp. My kids, having never seen an elk before, woke up and rushed outside. My wife got in her power chair and wanted to see them too. As we went outside the elk had moved on about 100 yard and you couldn't see the through the dense tress. We started walking to get closer but had to keep stopping and help my wife get her wheelchair unstuck. Anyone who has a loved one in a wheelchair knows what a pain in the nether regions that can be.

After two years of research, the builder decided on tank treads and the rest, as you see, is history. No pricing, but we'll contact him for an interview next week. [Thanks, BananaBoy]

Product Page [TankChair]

iBOT Mobility System

Travis Hudson — Wed, 17 Aug 2005 10:14:01 EDT

Independence Technology has released the iBOT 4000 Mobility System. This is the techiest wheelchair around. The sheer density of computers, software, sensors and gyroscopes could probably send a man to the moon and make me some toast at the same time. The electronics ensure stability at all times and this allow for the wheel chair to even rise up on two-wheels and roll, carefully, down stairs. The iBOT can also travel over many different types of terrain like grass and sand. Eat your heart out ~~Segway~~ some other sort of robotic thing with wheels seeing as how Dean Kamen invented this one.

World's Most Hi-Tech Wheelchar [GadgetryBlog]