iBOT Wheelchair - BALANCE TEST w/ 12g Shotgun

[coffeewithpiccasa]

hiiii i am frm india i want to buy i bot how its working bcz may i know the price of it thxxx...........

[harlanhobbs]

OK my calculations are based on POST initial construction. (As I had just paid for the ramps to be installed at my house.) Stairs....more than 2 stories.....NO PROBLEM. Not any tougher on the battery than 4 wheel mode, which uses a "Bobcat" like skid steering. Trust me... I use the chair and the stair climbing function often..... yes on an occasional 4 or 5 story building. It is about a 10 min climb if all is well. (NOT going well it is for some reason I have lost air pressure in a tire)

[huey091]

huey091foundation we are trying to revive the ibot

[prof89]

so how about that 8 gauge

[lauralovesworld]

Yeah I was the one who shot this video that day at the range and I promise you there was no resting the chair especially since it is in constant rocking motion (gyros-balance mode) and you can see a very slight recoil with the shot! If he were to lean forward or back even slightly, the chair would roll back or forward staying underneath him. If you rest it on anything, the chair freaks out if it can not keep up underneath him and it is forced downward into immediate 4 wheel mode!

Laura F.

[cycloneCJproducts]

and also you can see he rests the i bot on something..... still a great invention!!!!!!

[killerkowalczyk]

This thing must have one bad ass gyro to be that stable. puts the Segway to shame.

[cycloneCJproducts]

HEY GOOBER! its made by the same maker!!! DEAN KAMEN!!!!!

[golferal]

The Segway uses the exact same balancing technology. It was developed for the iBot and the Segway became a side project for some of the engineers. Dean Kamen retained the rights to the technology for non-medical applications (the Segway and PUMA).

[pccalhoun]

@killerkowalczyk: Dean Kamen built the Segway because of the research he had done developing the ibot. Also, the ibot uses gyroscopic *sensors*, but the only force-stabilization is from the wheel motors.

[glashoppah]

It IS a Segway, technically. Same stability.

[jjrk3]

Wikipedia is a terrible place to cite information from. curb cutouts and ramps for buildings are not just for people in wheelchairs they are for elderly people or people who have trouble walking etc. The Ibot is a really neat chair.

[gmodesike]

very cool invention!!! very nice

[531ain]

From what I've seen and read, the machine is sampling at high frequency, so it responds to changes very quickly. There's a video of a couple guys tossing something that looks like a 15kg medicine bag, then wrestling. It is very stable.

[natastna2]

That's freaking cool man.

[thaibu]

How stable is it a say you shifting a heavy object? for example throwing a bowling ball?

[benbethel]

If everyone was supplied with this wheelchair, then builders and cities wouldn't have to build wheelchair ramps and curb cuts... the savings would be in the hundreds of billions of dollars.

[harlanhobbs]

Average curb cutout=$800

Permanent entrance ramp for building=$1500

Each, a one time expence.

...iBot=$28,000 + Maint costs

(dont think so)

Everyday hundreds of people are left needing a wheelchair. I too would like to see everyone who needs an iBot have one. However you must remember the cost as well as the fact that millions of quads cannot use one and would still need those ramps and curb cutouts.

[benbethel]

Average curb cutout = $2000

Ramp for building = $3500

There are not millions of quads in this country - the population (according to wikipedia) of living with spinal cord injuries in the US is 200,000. Of those, a smaller portion are quads. Of those, many quads are not mobile.

Multiply the costs of the curb cuts by how many millions of buildings are in the US, and how many streets have curb cuts. Every wheelchair bound person could have an ibot AND a van AND a new home - all for free!

[Hesam0000]

@harlanhobbs Not really. Your calculations are a bit off. When they build a ramp it's done during initial construction so they actually use less concrete because it's lower. For buildings taller than 2 stories this chair can't be used, it's exhausting, dangerous & kills the battery. Plus, all costs involved in adaptions are spread between 30-40-50 years and million people so it's efficient, unlike IBOT. Cheap gyroscope technology is coming, & Exoskeletons also.

[Ratticis]

are you really as dumb as you sound?

[boomergetaddicted]

its kinda pointless that they make these machines most people who need them can't afford them

[harlanhobbs]

Lets not go that far...those of us that can afford them are the ones who are pushing to make sure that one day they are available to everyone! I can't afford a Mazerati but does that mean they should stop producing them. Life is filled with things we cant afford...yet there is always somebody who can.

[jham1980]

That's frickin ridiculous! I love it. But how much are they? $25k or some outrageous amount like that?

[sneakeypete]

25K isn't that outrageous when you consider its something that you'll use 2/3rds of every day of the rest of your life. You'll spend more on a car that you'll use less.

[maikeru01]

its really weird, the wheels look like that are exactly where your legs would be if you were standing. i mean obviously that is whats going on, but iis kinda crazy

[darkshadowscene]

wow thats amazing how stable it is

[carterjhill]

its liek a weelchair gundam thing thats awesome

[chilli50s]

hahaha i could picture him doing a drive by lol the would be some funny shit

[harlanhobbs]

Well i do live in LA. I guess if its gonna happen it would happen here.

[W33lhop]

Cool. Now try an 8-gauge.

[harlanhobbs]

My range does not have one but i promise you i will find one and post a new vid....even if i end up knocking the chair out of balance.

[RobotsAreHereNow]

nice

[deckstore]

theres a boy scout in my troop with one

[antoniwoj]

Cool but too Expen$sive for me

[froboy1818]

wow very awsome