Author Topic: Self-balancing wheelchair  (Read 1977 times)

Cudzoziemiec

  • Ride adventurously and stop for a brew.
Self-balancing wheelchair
« on: 22 June, 2021, 02:31:37 pm »
I saw a bloke using one today, up on the Downs. At first, in the distance, I wasn't quite sure that it didn't have a small front wheel or castor, but no, it just two wheels side by side. A Segway with a seat instead of a standing platform, and controlled by a joystick, basically. It seemed to go equally well on a tarmac path and on the (fairly smooth) grass of the Downs – in fact the bloke said that's one of the reasons he got it. It was his first chair so he couldn't provide a direct comparison, though he did say it was roughly comparable to ones used for wheelchair rugby, which he plays. He said he'd had it shipped over from New Zealand, where they're made, but it seems they are available within the UK as well: https://myadaptability.co.uk
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Regulator

  • That's Councillor Regulator to you...
Re: Self-balancing wheelchair
« Reply #1 on: 22 June, 2021, 02:37:44 pm »
They're £15,600  :o
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I completely agree with Reg.

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Cudzoziemiec

  • Ride adventurously and stop for a brew.
Re: Self-balancing wheelchair
« Reply #2 on: 22 June, 2021, 04:23:20 pm »
That would explain why they're rarely seen. Though might suggest someone's bumping up the price in the UK – should cost 17,000USD according to this, which is more like 12,000GBP. https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/health/111154718/lifechanging-wheelchair-made-in-new-zealand-ready-for-world-market
Far more affordable! (!) I couldn't actually see a price on that myadaptability site though, nor on omeo's own website come to that.
Riding a concrete path through the nebulous and chaotic future.

Re: Self-balancing wheelchair
« Reply #3 on: 22 June, 2021, 04:54:00 pm »
Don’t forget VAT and import duties on top of price and shipping costs

Kim

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Re: Self-balancing wheelchair
« Reply #4 on: 22 June, 2021, 05:12:27 pm »
They're £15,600  :o

Yeah but have you seen the price of power chairs generally?  Especially if you have specific needs.

ian

Re: Self-balancing wheelchair
« Reply #5 on: 22 June, 2021, 05:23:21 pm »
A lot of able-bodied people have wheelchairs that cost upwards of £38k. They call those Range Rovers.

Re: Self-balancing wheelchair
« Reply #6 on: 23 June, 2021, 01:27:42 am »
Don’t forget VAT and import duties on top of price and shipping costs

Should be able to get a chair without VAT

Re: Self-balancing wheelchair
« Reply #7 on: 23 June, 2021, 03:27:47 am »
Wow. That is an amazing device.
Mrs Scum has a battery wheelchair provided by the local wheelchair service - you have to be prescribed it. She loves it and gets around fine on it.
I would love to get her to try one of these, but I don't see the wheelchair service ever providing one.
Mrs Scum also has a justified fear of toppling over backwards on steep slopes - it has happened to her a couple of times. I guess she would have to be pretty confident in one fo these to, for example, go up a ramp ontoa bus.



Re: Self-balancing wheelchair
« Reply #8 on: 23 June, 2021, 03:29:30 am »
ps I believe Segways themselves were developed to assist people with mobility difficulties.
Mrs Scum cannot be persuaded to try a trip on one - balance issues.

Re: Self-balancing wheelchair
« Reply #9 on: 23 June, 2021, 07:10:28 am »
...
Mrs Scum also has a justified fear of toppling over backwards on steep slopes - it has happened to her a couple of times. I guess she would have to be pretty confident in one fo these to, for example, go up a ramp ontoa bus.

I believe you can get bolt on additional wheels on the back of a standard chair to prevent this happening?

e.g. https://www.medicalproductsdirect.com/antitippers.html       (this is a first result from google, other products may be available at better price, I am in no way affiliated to this site).

Cudzoziemiec

  • Ride adventurously and stop for a brew.
Re: Self-balancing wheelchair
« Reply #10 on: 23 June, 2021, 08:10:48 am »
It's remarkable that Segways were invented twenty years ago but it's taken all this time to put a seat on them. As for the cost, I see those self-balancing hoverboard things cost about £200 – but I'm sure that in both cost and "just put a seat on it", it's really not as simple as that!
Riding a concrete path through the nebulous and chaotic future.

Kim

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Re: Self-balancing wheelchair
« Reply #11 on: 23 June, 2021, 11:11:44 am »
While there are always niche applications, it's easy for us non-disabled people to fail to recognise the wheelchair equivalent of those revolutionary new bicycles (probably featuring one or more of hubless wheels, indicator lights and a Bluetooth app) invented by design students that come round on a regular basis.

IME wheelchair users don't want a stair-climbing exoskeleton.  They want someone to repair the lift in a timely manner, and a wheelchair with battery terminals that don't corrode if you go outside when it's been raining.

On the subject of cost, bear in mind that disabled people aren't allowed to save up for things and the NHS only usually funds WSOs.

Cudzoziemiec

  • Ride adventurously and stop for a brew.
Re: Self-balancing wheelchair
« Reply #12 on: 23 June, 2021, 02:19:26 pm »
Indeed. I know not how the bloke in the Omeo paid for his wheelchair or whether he was able to get a charity or wealthy parents to do so, but as it was his first wheelchair of any sort he'd presumably had some time as a non-disabled person to save up for it. He was in his early 30s, rough estimate.
Riding a concrete path through the nebulous and chaotic future.

Re: Self-balancing wheelchair
« Reply #13 on: 23 June, 2021, 02:51:58 pm »
Indeed. I know not how the bloke in the Omeo paid for his wheelchair or whether he was able to get a charity or wealthy parents to do so, but as it was his first wheelchair of any sort he'd presumably had some time as a non-disabled person to save up for it. He was in his early 30s, rough estimate.
He could have been a 1%er, started a unicorn or somesuch.

Being disabled doesn't preclude someone from being a high earner. Heck, one of my ex colleagues had no arms from elbow down - didn't stop him from being a senior IT support person).
<i>Marmite slave</i>

Cudzoziemiec

  • Ride adventurously and stop for a brew.
Re: Self-balancing wheelchair
« Reply #14 on: 23 June, 2021, 03:09:13 pm »
AIN'T NO HOOVES ON THIS CHAIR!
Riding a concrete path through the nebulous and chaotic future.

Re: Self-balancing wheelchair
« Reply #15 on: 23 June, 2021, 05:22:43 pm »
I saw one of these at least ten years ago.  Its owner was 'standing' at the bar in the Guildford Arms in Edinburgh.  My initial thought, seeing it twitching back & forth slightly but constantly, was how long would it go on one charge.

tonycollinet

  • No Longer a western province of Númenor
Re: Self-balancing wheelchair
« Reply #16 on: 01 July, 2021, 07:54:47 am »
If that chair were my replacement legs, I'd probably think 15K worth it (if I were able to afford it).

However, in a humane society, the best mobility aids would be state funded.

Kim

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Re: Self-balancing wheelchair
« Reply #17 on: 01 July, 2021, 11:34:33 am »
Yes, the cost of (decent) wheelchairs is entirely understandable.  A lot of the technology is comparable to cycles, but cycles that are manufactured to order in small volume and then ridden for 12 hours a day.  If you imagine a what a high-end HPVelotechnick e-assist trike would cost, then throw in a bespoke motorised pressure-relieving seat and custom hand controls, and add the inevitable cost of someone coming out in a van to sort out all the teething problems because even the simple parts are obscure (and you can't take it to them because your wheelchair is broken), you can start to see why.

Re: Self-balancing wheelchair
« Reply #18 on: 01 July, 2021, 01:01:22 pm »
It's remarkable that Segways were invented twenty years ago but it's taken all this time to put a seat on them. As for the cost, I see those self-balancing hoverboard things cost about £200 – but I'm sure that in both cost and "just put a seat on it", it's really not as simple as that!

Dean Kamen launched a Segway-based wheelchair (iBot) around 20 years ago with the ability to raise the height to put the user at eye level with standing people. I think it was just too expensive, though, and was canned in 2009 – then Toyota took it on in 2016.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MBQvEJJBY-A