iBOT Revamped: iBOT 4000

[Billfred]

Engadget has the story here.

Dubs remain off the option list.

[mechanicalbrain]

Thays just sick looking. I had a friend in a wheelchair for a year and she would have loved something like that. Is that the on that also elevates the user?

[Daniel Brim]

Originally Posted by mechanicalbrain

Thays just sick looking. I had a friend in a wheelchair for a year and she would have loved something like that. Is that the on that also elevates the user?

From the link

We’re not entirely sure how instrumental the father of the Segway was in this, the latest model of his iBOT personal mobility system, but we do know for sure that Dean Kamen’s infamous wheelchair that can climbs stairs and balance itself at eye-level now has a few new creature features. Like, among other things, a newly lowered seat which comes in rehab and automotive versions, and a more efficient, quieter motor. Where the dubs option though, yo?

[mechanicalbrain]

Right that is nice to know that it balances itsself at eye level as it shows that in the picture. Still the question stands. I heard his chair lifts the person up (i pictured a device like a scissoring arm type device) and i was wondering if this is like the wheel chair from the dwarf episode of CSI.

[663.keith]

the ibot wheelchair lifts a person up to eye level, there is no scissor lift mechanism that I recall on a wheelchair like this. I believe that the "lifting a person up" was in reference to balancing that person at eye level

just my $.02

[Clark Gilbert]

Originally Posted by mechanicalbrain

Right that is nice to know that it balances itsself at eye level as it shows that in the picture. Still the question stands. I heard his chair lifts the person up (i pictured a device like a scissoring arm type device) and i was wondering if this is like the wheel chair from the dwarf episode of CSI.

With the iBot the wheel assembly rotates to lift the whole machine to a higher level.

Here is a scissor lift like you are thinking.

[mechanicalbrain]

Okay that answers allot of questions. Thanks both of you i thought that the chair was something else from posts I'd seen. Personally i think the Segway is cooler but can you imagine if it had a defect while carrying someone fragile? Still very cool!

[Erin Rapacki]

I didn't realize the IBOT 4000 was made public this August. Geeze, I've been holding my breath for almost two years now!! So, BIG SURPRISE, I was testing the IBOT 4000 when I was interning at DEKA . Trust me, the 4000 is much better than 3000. Every function is performed a lot more fluidly and the design is easier to maintain.

Don't bother asking me any questions though, that's about all I can say (confidentiality agreement).

Originally Posted by mechanicalbrain

Personally i think the Segway is cooler

I disagree, the IBOT is a lot more complicated (and therefore, a lot "cooler") than the Segway. Go to www.independencetechnology.com and watch the video of the IBOT in action. The design and programming behind it in order to make it climb stairs, perform balance function, and hop a curb (which I think is most impressive) FAR outweighs what was necessary to make the Segway function properly. Segway is a plastc baby rattle compared to the orchestra the IBOT can function as on a day-to-day basis.

[Wetzel]

Originally Posted by mechanicalbrain

Okay that answers allot of questions. Thanks both of you i thought that the chair was something else from posts I'd seen. Personally i think the Segway is cooler but can you imagine if it had a defect while carrying someone fragile? Still very cool!

You'd change your mind if you were in a wheelchair. It's something I've been paying more and more attention to since last spring when I was on crutches for a few days. I realized that people who can't function at "human normal" have some pretty steep barriers to what I consider a normal life.

Wetzel

[Burgerman]

http://www.powerchair-review.fsnet.c...ull-review.htm

This is a link to a 6 page review and test of the iBOT 4000 transporter should any of you be interested!

Regards Burgerman

[KenWittlief]

That review is pretty sad.

1. The author says he is an engineer
2. He acknowledges that his weight is well above the max rating for the chair (ie, he should not use the chair under any circumstances)

but then

3. He ignores that basic fact, uses the chair anyway, and then complains that it does not seem to be functioning very well

?!

Maybe 'engineer' means something else in England?

The entire article is invalid.

[Billfred]

Originally Posted by Wetzel

You'd change your mind if you were in a wheelchair. It's something I've been paying more and more attention to since last spring when I was on crutches for a few days. I realized that people who can't function at "human normal" have some pretty steep barriers to what I consider a normal life.

Wetzel

Seconded. You try driving your team's robot around an urban setting, and see how easy it is to get into and out of buildings and even go down the sidewalk. (I know it was quite a challenge with Ockham.)

[mechanicalbrain]

Originally Posted by Billfred

Seconded. You try driving your team's robot around an urban setting, and see how easy it is to get into and out of buildings and even go down the sidewalk. (I know it was quite a challenge with Ockham.)

No I'm not discrediting the technical superiority of the wheelchair over the Segway I'm just saying that...

1) What if it failed during use with someone in it, it might cause serious harm. Keep in mind i know that this was remarkably engineered for safety but any mass produced object has a chance for failure.

2) I look at the computers like the Mark II Aiken Relay Calculator and think that is so much cooler then an Alienware area51. Ive got a soft spot for firsts (yes the chair is the first of its kind and i wouldn't be surprised to find the Segway isn't the first to employ that type of technology). And yes I love the chair and hardly discredit the huge potential. Keep in mind its just an opinion.

[KenWittlief]

failure analysis and design redundancy are major engineering disciplines.

these things are not left to chance. Military jets, like the F18 or the stealth fighter, would tear themselves apart in a fraction of a second if their fly-by-wire control systems ever failed (esp at mach 2).

as far as I know, its never happened, because the engineers design the system so that, if any given component fails, there are at least two more that take over, and the system keeps running without a glitch.

The fact that the IBOT has passed all the regulatory tests for its application is an indication of how well it it designed.

The IBOT wheelchair is near the top of the list of things that make me proud to be an engineer :^)

[Sgraff_SRHS06]

Agreed.

Some more notes on the iBOT from the Muscular Dystrophy side of things:

It's good if you, or the loved one who needs it, can support his/her back, head, and upper body without much help. For those with weak muscles in those areas (to the point they need custom support devices for their chair), it is not strongly advised.