Robotic Legs Instead of Wheelchairs

smooth wombat writes "Atsuo Takanishi, an engineering professor at Tokyo's Waseda University, has demonstrated a pair of robotic legs that may one day eliminate the need for wheelchairs. At the demonstration in Tokyo, one of Takanishi's students rode the robot -- which bears some resemblance to the mechanical "Wrong Trousers" of Wallace and Gromit fame -- up and down a staircase and along a pebbly path outdoors. A picture of the demonstration may be found here " Still waiting for my Gundam but that's a good start.

Comments

iBOT handles stairs, raises user to eye-level

[slashd'oh]

Back in 2001, Dean Kamen's company DEKA Research developed a wheelchair (marketed through a Johnson & Johnson company called Independence Technology) called the iBOT that raises the user to eye-level. Here's the writeup from Business Week (2001.04.11) with this nice tidbit:

"Kamen built the iBOT with gyroscopes that are programmed to create balancing capabilities based on an individual's center of gravity. The gyroscopes, in effect, emulate the principle by which humans are able to stand, balance themselves, and navigate around and through various environments and terrain by always offering a counterbalance."

(Obl. Simpsons quote: "And here I am using my legs like a sucker!")

Already done.

[nathan s]

From the Segway guy, this wheelchair can climb stairs and tackle pebbly paths.:-P

Best offroad wheelchair yet

[Jtheletter]

The TankChair won't necessarily go up and down stairs (though I bet it handles wide outdoor concrete steps just fine) but it is the best offroad wheelchair solution I've ever seen. This guy built it for his wife to be able to go hiking with her family after she was paralyzed in an accident. Kudos to his unwaivering effort and a successful solution!

FYI: I found this on the web last week and have no affiliation with the site.

Oh, and while the videos are very cool, let's try not to kill this guy's bandwidth. Perhaps someone with experience setting them up can post a reply with a coral cache or other mirror to prevent any slashdotting. I'd rather his money go to helping other people get these chairs than to a bunch of nerds hogging bandwidth. ;)

I'll just write a check

[Tee7]

I'm an amputee. I have health insurance through my employer. It's a mega-company. They will not pay one dime for any prosthetics - new, repairs, modifications - nothing. So this sort of news is fairy dust to us who aren't wealthy.

MPEG Video of the walker here...

[psyclops]

I found video of the V2 walker (today's demo was the V3) here:
http://www.takanishi.mech.waseda.ac.jp/research/pa rallel/WL-16rr/movie/stair_c.mpg

Hmmm, the rider looks a little nervous...

The video is from the university page at:
http://www.takanishi.mech.waseda.ac.jp/research/pa rallel/WL-16rr/index.htm

They are also working on a reactive foot for walking on uneven surfaces:
http://www.takanishi.mech.waseda.ac.jp/research/pa rallel/WS-1&1R/index.html

Very promising stuff. Hopefully the multiple linear actuators will make it somewhat fault tolerant. Now where's my Gundam?