Wheelchairs have had some up-grades over the years. Various forms have come and gone, but they are typically limited to moving forward and backward. Those days are over as Masaharu Komori (from Kyoto University in Japan) has designed a new wheelchair that can not only travel forwards and backwards but also sideways. Called ‘Permoveh’ (Personal Mobile Vehicle) the wheelchair features a set of rollers housed inside the chairs wheels that lets the user travel in all directions, including diagonally as well as sideways. The rollers use a separate drive-train from the main wheels which gives the Permoveh its unique ability. This enables the disabled to move in tight or crowded areas with an impressive amount of maneuverability. The wheel innovation can also be adapted for other uses such as an upgrade for forklifts used in warehouses or adapted to robots that work in small places like my apartment. The downside to the Permoveh is that there are no plans to commercialize the chair as of yet but conceivably it could be on the market in the next few years.
Prototype chair and wheel concept (via Kyoto University)
The idea is nothing new, robotics competitions have had this exact tech for years. Whoever markets the wheels first will be treated as the inventor, so hop to it Masaharu Komori.
Eavesdropper
