The acrobatic iBOT™ wheelchair can raise its occupant up to standing height and even climb stairs. Using its powerful four-wheel drive, it can plow through mud and sand and whiz align pavement at 6 mph (10km/h).
How iBOT™ Wheelchair Works?
It is hard to pull a conventional wheelchair up stairs, because it has to be heaved vertically up each step. A ramp laid up the stairs can make the task easier, because the chair travels up the slope gradually instead of being pulled upward against the force of gravity. The iBOT™ Wheelchair climbs stairs another way, using even less effort. Its secret lies in two pairs of large wheels called clusters. As the clusters more up and over one another, the chair rises up the stairs in a series of long shallow curves. The extra distance each wheel travels helps to reduce the effort needed to climb stairs.
This iBOT™ wheelchair is in its raised position. From here, the occupant is at standing height and high enough to reach shelves. The chair’s special balance mechanism detects when the occupant’s centre of gravity moves, then shifts the clusters of large wheels to compensate and balance the chair safely. When all wheels are on the ground, a joystick steers two smaller front wheels to move the chair.