Carrier: A New Concept for Wheelchair Design

Students at the University of Applied Arts Vienna have developed a novel powered wheelchair design that may overcome some of the limitations of contemporary models. For a start, the chair can glide over a toilet and, thanks to a hatch on the bottom, no one has to perform acrobatic tricks in the loo. The chair also articulates and provides a power lift to help reach things that are higher up. Additionally, a novel combination of treads and wheels allows riding up and down stairs, though we would like to see a final product that can actually pull this off.

The CARRIER is an advanced wheelchair for handicapped and temporary disabled people. It has multiple features, that make it more usable than a regular wheelchair and gives the user a chance to spend the day as usually as without a wheelchair.

A big problem for handicapped people is the toilet, thats why the CARRIER is able to go directly over standard toilets and open the seat, so the user doesn't have to get off the wheelchair. To go over stairs it uses the special 'Galileo Wheel' that combines the handling advantages of an ordinary wheel and climbing ability of a track drive. The last function to allow a maximum of freedom is the upstanding position mode, which gives the user the chance to reach higher objects, or talk to standing people on the same eye level. In addition the backrest can be folded away and the height is adjustable for easier seat change.

Link: Carrier robotic wheelchair

(hat tip: Yanko Design)