But new concept designed by s Ju Hyun Lee, gives hope to change all that. Their proposal for solution is named NEWS (New Electric Wheelchairs) and is still in concept phase.

The main idea and technological breakthrough is that this is not selfstanding electric powered wheelchair, but rather an motorized wheelchair addon for existing manual wheelchairs. So it actually does not want to replace your existing electric wheelchair; rather it is attached to the standard wheelchair. NEWS gives instant electric motorized power to wheelchair.

Also the design of the concept is clean, well-thought and robust. It bring the design of 21st century to assistive devices. If NEWS concept becomes a reality, it will definitely change the industry.

Price wise not much is know, but it should not be expensive – meaning that once mass productions starts, we should see it at very competitive price point, which will make electric wheelchairs available to broader masses of people in need… Meaning it should be perfect for end users and also hospitals,therapy centers and nursing homes…

Honda

U3-X is based on technology developed in Honda’s humanoid robot Asimo. Honda is well known for its R&D in robotics and assistive technology, and although its announcements are many (see the one about artificial robotic leg) most of this is still years away from production and sale. Looks like Honda is competing heavily against local rival Toyota, which is also aggressive on robotics and research – and both move in similar direction (toyota shows segway personal transporter with seat, toyota and mind controlled wheelchair, toyota i-swing personal mobility device)…

Anyhow, U3-X is on contrary with Toyota’s i-Swing a small device, which is also very portable. It can be carried around and put in trunk with ease. U3-X has a seat height a bit higher than an average person’s waist line, so passenger must “jump” on it to commence the ride. Passenger then puts his his feet to the foot rests (similar as found on motor bikes). The rest is already known from segway – passenger leans in the direction he wants to go, and U3-X personal mobility device moves. It can drive in 8 directions (cross and diagonally as well) and reaches a top speed of 3,7 MHP (5,5 km/h) – meaning that it moves at pace of average persons walk.

Honda’s chairman Takanobu Ito commented that “And if my legs get a little weak, I would like to have one of these around the house. It makes it easy to move about.”. We guess he has a big house… Honda did not want to comment on price and availability of the U3-X nor any plans to produce similar versions of power wheel chair or electric wheel chair devices like toyota i-swing where user sits and leans back on it…

See link to video on the next page.

To see video of U3-X in action (looks like a lots of fun, and very simple), click here.

New electric wheelchair is called Rodem. User sits on the four-wheeled wheelchair similar like on scooter. User rests his knees and chest on the cushions, steering the wheelchair with a joystick wile holding on to motorbike-style handles. The result is that user feels less load on their body.  

The whole new approach to electric wheelchair design allows users to mount the device more easily, and dismount it quickly and with less strain and pain as well. Target audience are elderly, hospitalized for smaller injuries which prevent them from freely moving around without help. Rodem is lessening reliance on care-givers to lift these patients.

Rodem promises greater mobility. Its prototype was demonstrated in the medical university in Tokyo. The two main wheels of the Rodem are independently driven by a control valve type lead battery. Autonomy of the electric wheelchair is around four hours per charge. Maximum moving speed is 6km/h, but can be set to lower limits as well. The dimensions of the Rodem are equivalent to the size of a normal wheelchair, and it weights about 200 lbs (100kg). It also features small minimum turning diameter.

While western nation’s (and Japan’s) populations are growing fast, and these kind of nursing robots are intended for them, the inventors say they have no immediate plans to commercialize the new vehicle. Their primary goal is to meet and exceed the governmental safety standards, but they remain open to offers from private companies.

TMsuk Robotic’s president  Yoichi Takamoto said the Rodem may also be used by people who are not disabled to simply ride and enjoy. Takamoto added that Rodem was too simple to be called a robot at this point in time, but that it may evolve into one by adding new robot-like features like example, that it comes to your bedside when you call for it.

Future is in deed interesting for next generation of electric wheelchairs, as Toyota recently showed off a mind controlled electric wheelchair, while other researchers announced wifi controlled wheelchair…

User still needs to attach sensor grid on the head. The EEG sensor cap  measures electrical activity in the brain through five electroencephalography (EEG) electrodes. These are placed above the areas of the brain which handle motor movement. The sensors interpret the signals they pick up and translate them into motion.   System processes thought patterns without learning or training and translates them into movement of wheelchair. Electric wheelchair can accordingly move left, right or forward. Sensory system is processing data in real time, so delay between the thought and action of wheelchair is less than 125 ms. Competitive solutions require substantially more time – growing to seconds, which makes movement less natural and more difficult. Toyota’s solution (well, actually Toyota is only a sponsor of researchers from BSI-Toyota collaboration center) does not require the driver to learn special “signals”, but instead this mind-controlled electrical wheelchair will move forward when driver thinks of walking. According to Toyota the wheelchair is able to understand a record 95% of all commands coming from the drivers.

Toyota representatives described growing demand on similar accessibility products by Japan’s growing older population (in 40 years the percentage of seniors will account for more than 40% of Japanese population). Thinking is natural, and requires less learning so  brain-machine interface system will be more robust and simpler than voice-controlled system. System even “learns” by analyzing the behavior of the driver, which means that driver can improve the accuracy over time.

Japan has been always very strong in advanced robotics, and recent encourage by government fueled new research and development even further. It comes as no surprise, that other Japanese companies like Honda and Hitachi, are also working on brain-wave-machine technologies.

Though the brain-machine interface technology is still in developmental stages, Toyota researchers are hoping their electric wheelchair interface will be useful for rehabilitation and for support of people who use the vehicles, and also as a mean of assisting a rapidly aging population. Toyota’s system works excellent. Beside brain-wave commands, it also incorporates some basic motor controls. As you can see on video below an emergency stop can be commanded by puffing out a cheek.

Original story published here (in Japanese).

Related reading:

Their initial plan was to use a cheap laptop (like Asus EEE Pc) for the speech recognition, as this would allow future upgradebility (such as a rear and side view camera, audio warning, and easier programming of the control logic) and improvement to the speech recognition software.

The cost comparison would hold, as the price difference between EEE Pc and hm2007 is small, and would not mean a big difference within price of electric wheelchair itself. Also the higher power drain should be small, compared with the wheelchair’s drain.
But their problem was speed, accuracy, and granularity of the voice recognition system, as EEE’s cpu power was not sufficient. As effect, the wheel chair speed would have to be kept very low to maintain controllability and safety…

This project has been held at ORT Hermalin (Nathanya Israel) with collaboration of the Israeli Technion Computer Science Department. More info can be found here

Image via Wikipedia

Similar than all-terrain electric wheelchair we previously wrote about 2008 model has lower center of gravity, more torque, stronger chassis, and improved incline and decline approach angles. It has rubberized tracks instead of standard wheels and looks more like a miniature tank than any of electric wheelchair cousins. It also has a full-height chair with abundant cushioning for added comfort to smoothen a bumpy ride. Electric wheelchair is using rubber tracks and high torque electric motors, and manufacturer guarantees that it will take you just about anywhere. Even the urban street and stairs, with a incline accent of up to 45-degrees!!

It’s constructed out of a one-piece steel chassis and the tracks are made from ruggedised rubber and lightweight aluminium struts. The 24v, 2hp, 127rpm variable speed motor is powered by 4x Optima Deep Cycle batteries. It also has a gear ratio of 22:1 and can traverse a ten per cent incline.

The TankChair was initially conceived 2 years ago for the designer’s handicapped wife who is an avid lover of the outdoors. This prompted a design which is capable of traversing difficult terrains such as streams, mud, snow, sand and gravel. On a side note, we are also touched by the company’s generosity with a TankChair donation to a rural area US fire station for every 10 sold. Although pricing details of the all new and improved model weren’t available at time of this writing, it is best to consult electric wheelchair buying guide or similar before buying…

Mode info: Tankchair.com

Product is designed to help maintain the self-respect of elderly or disabled people, and since world turns around money, it is worth noting that elderly population is increasing, and that baby-boom generation is projected to enter "need for assisted living" phase in 10-20 years. The wheelchair will be designed for elderly or disabled persons who are unable to move from their wheelchairs to toilet seats by raising their bodies with their own arm strength, and who cannot be attended to by caregivers regularly.

The report, that will be basis for further development was done in Hachinohe City with approx 100 respondents and in nursing care facilities in Aomori Prefecture (27 facilities were selected for the questionnaire, of which 21 responded, a return rate of 77.8%). The survey was carried out to further the research and development into a prototype for the above welfare equipment, with the aim of creating a prototype based on the responses of Hachinohe City residents and of those who are actually engaged in nursing service for the elderly or disabled people in these facilities.

The results have made it clear that while the benefits and the necessity of developing an electric wheelchair with toilet functions are fully recognized, there is still a need to examine matters such as its scope of use, in the light of ways of thinking about care and medical practice for the elderly and the disabled. Easy of use and high hygiene standard will have to be solved properly before electric wheelchair with toilet will be accepted by users…