Attachment for Manual Wheelchair that Converts to Powered Wheelchair

[ProPulse]

@automation@Oddity Although it may be difficult, we will keep true to the mission of the company and keep prices low. I am confident that we will eventually find a way to find success in the market as long as we stat true to our values we established in the beginning.

[ProPulse]

@nonoise I will definitely make sure it wont interfere with transferring out of the chair. I'm really glad you brought that up.

[ProPulse]

@Gordy1 That will be part of the "secret sauce" of the device and is still currently under development It's a challenging problem that we have put a lot of thought into!

[ProPulse]

@jakeboy1 it is really interesting how changing the code that 'represents' the device category totally changes the pricing. I am by no means no expert in the coding system but what I do know is that we will do everything we can to be categorized to be able to keep prices as low as possible for the end user.

[ProPulse]

@automation HUGE thank you for sharing the experiences and testing you did with UI. The tank controls are hilarious and awesome. It is going to be a challenge to incorporate UI that suits all disabilities. In the end though, I feel as though starting with the simplest option (joystick), then expanding as the product reaches more individuals, will end up being the best approach.

[ProPulse]

@automation @oddity The pricing conversation is a tough one. A lot of factors that play for and against each other. You both make fantastic points. I think the best way that I can sum this up is similar to what I mentioned earlier, this company was born out of the desire to help as many people as we possibly can at a reasonable price. No one should be denied basic human rights, like mobility, because insurance says you are not 'disabled enough' or not having $6,000 to spend. If that means that we grow slower because of issues with medicare, that's okay, as long as we stay consistent with what made us start this thing in the first place. I truly believe that if we don't conform to the systems standards and keep to what we believe in, we will be very successful. Currently, we have our eyes open for a business major that can add significant value on the business/marketing side of the product, we just want to make sure they share our passion for the mission

[automation]

It is going to be a challenge to incorporate UI that suits all disabilities. In the end though, I feel as though starting with the simplest option (joystick), then expanding as the product reaches more individuals, will end up being the best approach.

A flexible/versatile UI isn't impossible -- it just means not marrying yourself (your design) to some preconceived notion of what the UI "should" be. You have to "virtualize" the interface -- both in engineering terms and in intuitive terms. It's too easy to let one reification of AN interface bias your future thoughts on that interface. This is especially true of how you let the functionality enabled by that interface evolve.

E.g., once you settle on a visual interface, future growth/augmentation will tend to be reinforced by that visual aspect of the interface... you'll THINK about the interface as inherently visual and subtly abandon the abstractions that you had set in place, originally. You'll think "what else can I display?" instead of "what else can I present?" (when you present something, it is in the modality dictated by the interface)

[There is a subtlety, here, that is hard to express in words. But, it's the sort of thinking that leads your phone to displaying a photo of the caller ("Gee, isn't this a neat feature that we can add?") that is lost on, for example, BLIND users (what's the equivalent "presentation" for the blind user??)! An analogy is focusing on a joystick interface and what ELSE you can implement, using it, and then discovering that the interface has grown in complexity (feeping creaturism) -- e.g., using the joystick to set a multitude of configuration parameters -- in a way that makes "porting" it to a quadriplegic's abilities "impractical".]

For example, decades ago, "displays" on products were simplistic/trivial -- largely owing to the available technology and cost issues. So, you saw 7-segment LED displays trying to display make-shift words composed of "letters" fabricated from those 7 segments. This made some words trivial to present: OFF, On, HELP, Error (assuming you had 5 digits available!). But, made other words impossible (Eject, Reset, Repeat, etc.). This resulted in stilted interfaces. E.g., my washing machine displays dO to tell me the door is Open or nF to tell me that it did not Fill (with water) -- both of these are cryptic and unfriendly. They appear to be afterthoughts instead of part of the original design specification (and, if you're blind, there's no way of sorting out which, if any, "message" is being DISPLAYed).

Don't be afraid to make mistakes. Just make them IN THE LAB!!

[ProPulse]

@automation Truly a fascinating response that I whole hardheartedly agree with. In essence, don't let the preconceived notions of what an interface 'should be' dictate the future of the devices. I do agree with this way of thinking and will project it to the design of the device. The last emoji was also a great touch lol

[comad]

Some very interesting Inexpensive
HOOVERBOARD WHEELCHAIR HACKS

https://youtu.be/EsvdS5kRhKc

https://youtu.be/3oBa5FbCuGc

https://youtu.be/PFFIPhF2_xw

[ProPulse]

@comad Thank you for those links!

[rob1]

@ProPulse Hey, great project! Sounds like the smartdrive with the functionality of the Alber e-fix or ZX1. That sounds like the perfect add on to me. This is exactly what I was looking for someone to produce as a power add on. I assumed the engineering problem that needed to be solved for this configuration was the brake which @Gordy1 mentioned. But I saw your reply saying you think you have a fix for this! Cool! Anyway keep us updated with any progress, I would definitely buy a product that worked like this!

[ProPulse]

@rob1 Thank you very much for the kind words I fully intend on keeping the forum updated each step of the way! We am DETERMINED to make this device user inspired rather than purely engineering.

[ProPulse]

Mounting Location for Powered Attachment

Hello all,

I have posted a few times and found the community to be extremely helpful. I am part of a team developing an affordable and convenient attachment to power manual wheelchairs. My question is:

Do you believe it would be more convenient to have this attachment in the front (behind your calves) or in the back? Please let me know if you have any questions.

Thanks,
Steve

[August West]

In the back may provide better control. In the front would be easier to access. Best of both worlds would be if you could provide adequate control with it in the front... I think.

[nonoise]

...
Do you believe it would be more convenient to have this attachment in the front (behind your calves) or in the back? ...

Back first, I think you mean in the SD location. It is convenient and fairly easy to access.
By front behind calves you might mean behind the footrest, but forward of where the SD would be, more or less under the chair. So are we talking doing wheelies now to install it? Not so good for some like me. And some or many do not have the wheels that one can reach their hands through the spokes. The very cheap chairs do and the expensive wheels do, but not the rest.