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Wednesday, April 30, 2008

Docking your wheelchair



Based on technology used to dock a spaceship, this new wheelchair accessible van design uses laser technology to load your chair onto a lift on the back after you, uh, disembark. A video description would be that the van seat lowers, you transfer into the vehicle, then the power chair is remotely guided toward the rear of the van where a lift descends. Laser lights on the arms of the chair then guide the chair onto the lift (something inventors says was too difficult to do remotely), the lift goes up and - voila- you and your chair are aboard. Liftoff!

Well all kidding aside it is less pricey than current setups, so check it out. The figure I heard was 30 grand. So it depends what you buy - however here's what is new and great about it: the equipment can be transferred to a new vehicle. Developed by New Scientist, if you're looking for more info or check out a post at Gizmodo where I caught onto this video.

More scifi stuff for the day: what do astronauts falling from the sky have to do with nomads in Central Asia?

h/t gizmodo

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Interesting. A lift like that is much cheaper than lowering a van to put a ramp in it. But then you gots to pay for the laser computer thingie. Here's my question about it: can you get in the driver's seat, not just the rear one?

Anonymous said...

Hi Ruth! That guy with the remote is cute:)

Ruth said...

Bette: Let's focus here!! LOL

Bob: I know they make seats that go up/down and I think they can install those for drivers (I know I've seen them for front passenger seats).

Of course the usual set up with a rear lift and no computer thingie ( geeze using tech talk again) works if someone can walk around or always has a person with him/her to help. Much cheaper, especially if you look for a used one like a place at Disabled Dealer.

Anonymous said...

I'm not sure I'm up to the tech talk here hehe Kind of cool to have laser thingies on your chair and van.