Creating a wheelchair capable of overcoming architectural barriers couldn't have been very simple: today a team of engineers from the Chiba Institute of Technology, led by the Associate Professor, succeeded in the feat using a good dose of lateral thinking.
A wheelchair? It's difficult to define it this way: when it encounters an obstacle, Chiba transforms its wheels into... legs!
Needless to say: the wheel is a universal and efficient way to allow movement for all people with limited mobility. However, the limits are still many: in particular conditions even the threshold of an entrance, or a sidewalk, can become insurmountable barriers.
Chiba brilliantly circumvents this problem by mounting four independent wheels on five axles, which act as suspensions: in the presence of an obstacle, a transformation occurs. Next to each wheel there is a sensor, which detects the possibility of proceeding: if this is missing (i.e. if the wheel is unable to turn) the wheels move, literally transforming into 'legs': as if that were not enough, the sensors also evaluate the size of the 'step to be taken', preventing users from ending up on the ground.
Chiba does not require particular attention from those who use it: it is equipped with a joystick and is easily guided even in small spaces (the independent wheels are able to make the chair complete a turn on its axis).
Development stage:
At present the concept is in the mechanical structuring phase. The test phase will follow.
Here is a video of Chiba in action:
[Youtube] t2SHKyq5yCU [/ youtube]
