Tech Shout!

After the Tongue operated wheelchair, here’s another piece of innovation. The laser-guided robotic wheelchair provides more convenience and peace of mind to the physically disabled, which easily mounts on to the back of the car with no requirement of physical pressure.

Once the person is out of the wheelchair and is in the car, they can then use a remote control which directs the wheelchair to the back of the car and the computer inside the vehicle takes charge with its radio signals and laser technology, the wheelchair is placed onto the back of the car using a lift at the back of the car. The same procedure will be used once again while getting off the car as well.

“The real challenge is to dock with 100% reliability. That is something you can’t do with remote control,” says John Spletzer, a roboticist at Lehigh who helped develop the system.

The secret behind the perfection of this system is the LIDAR (light detecting and ranging) system that makes the wheelchair fit perfectly on to the forklift of the car. The system responds to the laser light reflectors on the armrests which aligns itself with the forklift in an accurate position.

The creative developers of this equipment, Freedom Sciences are hoping to sell the robotic wheelchair and its compatible equipment at an approximate price of $30,000 USD. But the launch of the product will be only after an approval is acquired from the US Food and Drug Administration which will approximately take a month or more