As wheel chair users know accessing certain areas can be difficult. Imagine though how tedious it must get when a wheel chair user longs to go on a sandy beach but can not because the wheels of the wheelchair just get stuck in the soft dry sand. I suggest a wheel chair that is fitted with tank tracks rather then the conventional wheels. They could be rotated by the user or by an electric motor, depending on which is more feasible. It may prove too strenuous a task for a person to manually propagate using tracks. Its possible that this new kind of wheelchair may even be able to climb stairs.-- big_boy_gun_bell, Sep 06 2002 All terrain and beach wheelchair http://www.natural-access.com/Default.htm [Helium, Sep 06 2002, last modified Oct 21 2004] (?) New Wheelchair http://www.msnbc.com/news/285231.aspCopes with stairs and sand [Helium, Sep 06 2002, last modified Oct 21 2004] Dean Kamen's IBOT chair http://www.dynopowe...epages/newchair.htmCruises through sand and climbs stairs easily. Bakey bakey. [waugsqueke, Sep 06 2002] Tank Tracked Wheel Chair http://www.techeblo...h-gadget/tank-chair [jhomrighaus, Sep 14 2006] Another Site http://www.ubergizm...om_to_disabled.html [jhomrighaus, Sep 14 2006] Heres a ton of Pics and a video of the chair. http://www.ezprezzo...ics/tank_chair.html [jhomrighaus, Sep 14 2006] Welcome to the HB, if I havn't said so already.
The general: other category isn't the best for this idea. Might I suggest product: mobility.
Although I'm not absolutely sure that fitting tank tracks to wheelchairs is baked (I suspect it is), the all-terrain wheelchair is actually fairly commonplace, and widely baked. Most modern electric wheelchairs will cope fairly easily with stairs.-- yamahito, Sep 06 2002 Put the wheel chair user in a giant beach ball and he can roll around the beach.-- Gulherme, Sep 07 2002 Product: Mobility it is...
Aside from the poor categorizing, it's not a bad idea, if badly thought out. Baked in a couple of ways, though.-- StarChaser, Sep 07 2002 I thought of a stair-climbing chair concept using a hydraulic lift and some power wheels back when I was twelve. I should've patented it right then.-- RayfordSteele, Sep 07 2002 I think an AT-AT style wheelchair would be quite cool for going up stairs. It'd probably need 8 legs, a pair at each of the 4 corners: 1 set to climb to the next step and 1 to hold footing on the current step, just like any good walking robot. Even if it wouldn't be all that feasible, it sure would look good...
Oh, and yama: it's other: general, not general: other. You know I have to keep up my pedantry...And does the title *really* need an exclamation mark?-- NickTheGreat, Sep 07 2002 I'll exclaim you now you checky nob, i can put whatever the fuck I like !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! so there, cunt-- big_boy_gun_bell, Dec 09 2003 When I had a wheelchair a few years back I put mountainbike tyres over the skinny wheelchair tyres to get some track width when I went to the beach. These 26 tyres where just thrown over the 24 inch wheels and it was easier but I had to balance on 2 wheels as the tiny front wheels would have stuck in sand otherwise. Of course there was that helpful somebody asking if I wanted a hand but as I was doing my exercises I said no....-- Pellepeloton, Sep 14 2006 random, halfbakery