NIWeek: Swiss students show stair-climbing wheelchair

A team of 10 students studying mechanical and electrical engineering at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) in Zürich are designing and building an electric wheelchair which is able to climb stairs.

Moving on the ground is accomplished with a system with automated balancing on the two main wheels. The stairs are climbed using two rubber tracks mounted on the bottom of the chair.

In a presentation at NIWeek in Austin, Texas today, the students described the three main elements of the design:

• Two large, balancing, wheelchair like wheels. Our wheelchair will use these to drive on flat ground. The ability to balance on two wheels allows our vehicle to be as mobile as possible and reduces friction to a minimum. The driver will not have to balance himself, this will be done by the motor control system.
• Two folding rubber tracks placed between the wheels which are used to climb and descend stairs. The user sits with their back towards the stairs. This allows more legroom. The axis of rotation is placed behind the two large wheels, such that when you lower the rubber tracks they are the only elements touching the stairs. The angle of the rubber tracks can be adjusted to the slope of the staircase.
• A pair of linear actuated small wheels at the back of the chair are mounted on a metal bar and are critical to the functionality of the chair. Through the linear movement the support system is lowered to the ground, which props the wheelchair into the air. This elevation is used at the top of a staircase to offer a smooth transition from the tracks to the big wheels (while getting off stairs) and help the rubber track adjust to the slope (while driving onto the stairs). It also gives the wheelchair two more points of contact to the ground.

The hope is the wheelchair will compete at the cybathlon championship 2016.

Source: Scalevo

Richard Wilson

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