Not a Wheelchair [video] • Hacker News Board

Re: Not a Wheelchair [video]

#61

Post by dmux » Wed, Jul 01, 2020, 4:52 PM UTC

mdasen wrote: post #3

I think e-bike technology is going to get adapted to all sorts of new uses like this. I think there's a lot of opportunity to create great vehicles for people that will offer a good accessibility. https://rootedinrights.org/video/disabled-bikers/ This video shows bikers of many different abilities using many different kinds of bikes and it shows how versatile bikes can be for different people. I'm kinda curious why i…

That was a really heartwarming video. I'm guessing that The Rig has four wheels in order to support carrying things (they mentioned in the video being able to strap a chair or coolers to the back).

Re: Not a Wheelchair [video]

#62

Post by tsumnia » Wed, Jul 01, 2020, 4:52 PM UTC

Most of the comments have criticized the price point for what you are getting; however, I would say this looks like a great quality of life tool for disabled individuals. If you are wheelchair bound, there are a number of terrains that a traditional wheelchair will not operate on. They even point this out with their rig on beach sand. There are designs that handle sandy terrain [1], but they would not work well on other surfaces.

Without knowing much about the couple's relationship, I would say they are trying to create a design that allows for other outdoor terrains, such as a dirt road. If you imagine a traditional wheelchair design, the subtle bumps and dips on a dirt road would make it taxing for the rider or anyone assisting them. Jerry's Rig tries to mitigate those issues to offer a quality of life improvement so that wheelchair bound outdoorsy people can still be outdoorsy people.

Like codekansas said, people can very quickly scope creep into making an all together badass arm when all the person wants is something to get them through the day.

[1] https://www.sandriderusa.com/product/sand-rider/

Re: Not a Wheelchair [video]

#63

Post by voldacar » Wed, Jul 01, 2020, 4:53 PM UTC

Was hoping there would be blueprints. Still really cool though

Re: Not a Wheelchair [video]

#64

Post by VBprogrammer » Wed, Jul 01, 2020, 4:55 PM UTC

Someone1234 wrote: post #30

beefman wrote: post #19

Compare to Swincar https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC3lTz7OIPp7fscYDhig3Qyw/vid...

I like how the Swincar has a roll-cage. Even if the "Not a wheelchair" has a lower speed, and less off-road capabilities than the Swincar, it still seems like roll protection could be a useful safety system. I guess they're relying on the light[er] weight?

Your comment reminded me of a motorcycle racer I knew who was paralyzed from the waist down. He had a few funny stories about coming off his bike and having his legs broken and bent like a pretzel. The track martials would come over and just about faint at the sight of it, he often had to calm them down. He'd get looked over by the medics and drive himself to the hospital to get a cast put on.

Re: Not a Wheelchair [video]

#65

Post by lmilcin » Wed, Jul 01, 2020, 4:55 PM UTC

mrfusion wrote: post #56

Did he say there’s no differential? Solid read axle? That could be hard to turn on non dirt surfaces?

He said so and it does seem to have solid axle and it only shows it driving on dirt and grass.

One way to solve it would be to have only single wheel powered. If you get that one powered wheel lifted you could shift your weight to tip entire vehicle (assuming you took care to load it evenly).

Re: Not a Wheelchair [video]

#66

Post by uoaei » Wed, Jul 01, 2020, 4:55 PM UTC

geocrasher wrote: post #49

woriuweflksdncn wrote: post #12

I wonder how those rear wheels handle corners. I'm a little surprised they didn't use two independent drive motors, versus a single motor and solid axle, which could be extended to implement an electronic differential.

Indeed, this thing will likely eat tires if used on-road a lot. Without a differential, it'll also be harder to steer and will want to "push" through the turns. You can see this at 2:31: https://youtu.be/vuMg0QwKAGI?t=151 The turning radius isn't that great, and the lack of a differential helps explain why. Definitely an interesting design choice.

Version 1.0 will always be a functional proof-of-concept. They have the basic platform, now they can start iterating.

Re: Not a Wheelchair [video]

#67

Post by cmuguythrow » Wed, Jul 01, 2020, 4:58 PM UTC

My friend has a trackchair, which is basically a wheelchair with tank tracks. Slower than these bike-style chairs but very off-road capable. The coolest one I've seen is from Ziesel - their track-style chair can go 20MPH!

http://actiontrackchair.com/ https://www.ziesel-adventures.com/welcome/models

Re: Not a Wheelchair [video]

#68

Post by lootsauce » Wed, Jul 01, 2020, 4:58 PM UTC

One trick with regular vehicles to better handle sand is to lower the tire pressure. I'm curious how well you could do on sand with bike tires using lower pressure?

Re: Not a Wheelchair [video]

#69

Post by tobyhinloopen » Wed, Jul 01, 2020, 5:00 PM UTC

I bet it scratches at a level 6 with deeper grooves at a level 7

Re: Not a Wheelchair [video]

#70

Post by Fabricio20 » Wed, Jul 01, 2020, 5:02 PM UTC

Zenbit_UX wrote: post #20

Can anyone point me in a good direction to start making something like this myself? I've dabbled with arduinos but never really large electric motors and battery packs. I think it would be a lot of fun to make myself an ebike or whatever this thing is.

You might find some inspiration in Tom Stanton's [0] videos, he made his own e-bike and documented the upgrade cycles since v1. Just recently he made a summary video about how to start making your own e-bike.

[0]: https://www.youtube.com/user/tomstanton282