New robotic hands-free wheelchair to help with mobility in users

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. (WAND) — University of Illinois researchers have created a new robotic hands-free wheelchair.

After receiving a $1.5 million grant from the National Science Foundation, the Grainger College of Engineering, College of Fine and Applied Arts, Carle Illinois College of Medicine, College of Applied Health Sciences, and the Beckman Institute for Science and Technology have teamed up to create a wheelchair to improve mobility in users.

“With your hands occupied with propulsion, you just can’t do other things, or when you do them it's really clanky. But then more other impactful experiences of holding someone’s hand whether it’s your spouse or loved one or your children while you’re moving you just can't do that very effectively or easily,” said U of I Wheelchair Track Head Coach Adam Bleakney.

Bleakney said they are using Segway machine self-balancing technology to make this possible.

“Given how ambiguous things like Segways are and self-balancing technology, it just seemed to me that that was the avenue to go to figure out how to utilize what already existed on the market which was self-balancing technology," said Bleakney. "How can we figure out a way to translate that into something usable for daily wheelchair users?”

Bleakney and his team are still working on a more advanced portion of the wheelchair expected to be complete in another year and a half.