A low cost stair climbing wheelchair

Abstract

There are around 68 millions of wheelchair users in the world. And 49.2% must use steps to enter or exit their homes, in the USA. But only a few successful stair climbing wheelchair models or middle scale robots have been built. A low cos stair climbing wheelchair is here proposed. The wheelchair is powered by a system which enables it to have smooth motion on flat surfaces and has the capability of climbing stairs and traversing obstacles by local and dynamic conditions and not by an external command and so, only two motors for locomotion are necessary. Experimental tests show its functionality. The additional cost of a stair climbing wheelchair as proposed here is 20% of a conventional wheelchair of the economic class.