All-terrain wheelchairs as a base for small robotic farm vehicles

It’s interesting to look at electric wheelchair technology with an eye towards turning it to other uses. Normally, we only think of wheelchairs as helping disabled people to get around, but on a basic level, what we’re really looking at is a set of fairly well-developed and widely implemented electric mobile platforms with electronic controls (usually a joystick, or similar). This makes it a naturally viable option for developing custom robotics applications.

Since my specific interest in custom robotics relates to agricultural use, and vehicles for enhancing operations of small farms, let’s look specifically at some existing form factors of off-road or all-terrain wheelchairs.

Personally, I’m not sure I understand why it’s so important that we use technology to enable people with disabilities to go hunting (maybe “subsistence” applies?), but there are thousands of pictures of that kind of thing as the “use case” for ATWs (all-terrain wheelchairs), like so:

It’s unavoidable as a use case with ATWs though, so I thought I would put it first — and anyway, it basically meets all the same conditions of operation that we would find on a small farm. [These things are just incidentally too “Terminator” looking for me]

But do they have towing capacity? That’s one thing I wonder when I look at a vehicle like this. I’ll have to find some companies to email and ask about this.

For a famer who is not disabled though, I tend to think this form factor is a bit too “laid back.” I’d like to be able to jump out of or off my seat, saddle or mount quickly and easily, and something tells me some of these seats which are designed for users who are essentially permanently seated may not be entirely appropriate.

This pic is interesting to me because it’s basically trimming another variant of an ATW down to its essential basic chassis/platform:

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It helps seeing this to clear away some of the cobwebs and preconceptions about what a motorized wheelchair really is or could be.

Wheelchairs: not just for disabled people anymore? It’s a weird thought.

This is basically just like a small electric ATV if you ask me:

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Again, I’d swap out the seat for something else, but kind of cool basic idea. Again, what’s the hauling capacity? Battery life? [Another similar 4x4 4WD model]

Chinese seated Segway knockoff?

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Cool concept, but: how good is your balance if you’re disabled though? Is an able-bodied driver likely to get thrown for a face-plant on one of these things? It’s very unclear. What happens when you’re stopped/parked?

Terrain Hopper has an interesting piece of equipment that is still aimed at disabled people, but which is starting to look “cool” enough that maybe some non-disabled people would be tempted to give it a try:

And the “proof is in the pudding” with this video of one of these vehicles being taken across a plowed field, which is actually no picnic on a regular gas-powered ATV either…

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U5dgCBgc4g8]

I’m suspicious, however, when there’s a video of motor-driven devices and I am not allowed to hear the sound of the motor in action. I’m by no means an expert on the subject, but for anyone routinely working with tools and vehicles that make use of motors, you learn to really rely on the feedback of the motor sound to tell you if the device is in good working order, if it’s struggling, etc.

On a related note, and more just for fun than anything, a couple picks of non-off-road mobility scooters hauling carts:

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