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The Future Of Disabled Mobility Tech
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beercheck
09/30/09

In reply to The Future Of Disabled Mobility Tech
Aha! So, the only thing standing between me and getting laid is a tuque with Lifesavers stuck on it! It's so obvious, I don't know how I never thought of it before!

Look out, ladies...
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bzr
09/30/09

In reply to The Future Of Disabled Mobility Tech
This man approves.
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Edited by bzr at 09/30/09 2:51 PM bzr was starred bzr was unstarred

bzr
09/30/09

@bzr: This man approves.
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B1663R
09/30/09

In reply to The Future Of Disabled Mobility Tech
Couldn't you save a few bucks and practice youth-in-Asia?

/today' bad joke
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Flathead Smith
09/30/09

In reply to The Future Of Disabled Mobility Tech
That robot "bear" in #9 is what nightmares are made of, those Japanese really scare me with what they think is cool.
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Alfisted
09/30/09

In reply to The Future Of Disabled Mobility Tech
I'm surprised Toyota isn't represented here - they do more to serve the disabled than anyone. One example, getting behind the wheel of a Camry has the same effect as putting on Nissan's Elderly Simulation Suit.
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Flathead Smith
09/30/09

In reply to The Future Of Disabled Mobility Tech
I'm going to make my kids push me around when I'm old, if they don't I'll threaten to give their inheritance to my pet cat. Not that there will be a large inheritance or anything, I’ll just lie.
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Number_Six
09/30/09

In reply to The Future Of Disabled Mobility Tech

Most of these are amazing but the bear is terrifying. I'm attaching a photo of Clay Regazzoni in action for no good reason other than he raced using hand controls in the years after this photo.
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TimTim
09/30/09

@Number_Six: Evan Evans raced with hand controls as well... Made for some pretty impressive in-car footage of him juggling hand throttle/brake, steering wheel, and manual gear shift. Most of the time he was doing it well out in front of the rest of the field.
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Number_Six
09/30/09

@TimTim: Amazing. I had not heard of him before but the Gewgles have helped me add him to my Regazzoni/Zanardi podium of racers with titanium gonads.
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P161911 probably shoudn't have
09/30/09

In reply to The Future Of Disabled Mobility Tech
As a mechanical engineer I see a great deal of room for improvement over the basic wheel chair design. It is one thing to use the basic design for a short time but if I was confined to a wheel chair on a long term or permanent basis, I'm thinking something with lots of carbon fiber and maybe some sort of geared hub system to help the propulsion. This is something I just haven't taken the time to really think out and I'm sure there is some pretty high tech athletic stuff out there. It seems to me that if you rely on a wheel chair for mobility that you would be willing to spend at least half as much on one as you would a car.
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leavethegun-takethecannoli
09/30/09

@P161911: My father and a distant cousin were both paralyzed in car accidents. My father spends about $30,000, every three years, on a wheelchair. His custom vans cost about $75,000 to $90,000, but they last about seven years.

Things have improved greatly over the last ten years, as his new van is drive-by-wire and much easier to control. Wheelchairs have improved greatly as well, offering many options that were unheard of only a few years ago.

The problem with most equipment is that it is very specialized, with a limited market. A fortune is spent on R&D, and that has to be passed on to the consumer.
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P161911 probably shoudn't have
09/30/09

@leavethegun-takethecannoli: The only type of wheel chair that I have any familiarity with is the basic metal and vinyl, hand wheels, fold up models that haven't really changed much in the last 30-40 years. I have had a few elderly relatives that use those. I'm guessing that the $30,000 model is a motorized unit. The motorized units do seem to have made a lot of progress, but the manual powered ones like you see everyday seem to be fairly stagnant in design terms.
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SundaySunday
09/30/09

In reply to The Future Of Disabled Mobility Tech
Mind controlled wheelchair? Careful with that one. That's how the Soviet Firefox fighter plane got its start.
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Number_Six
09/30/09

@SundaySunday:
Or the wheelchair in Demon Seed.
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Steve_in_NC
09/30/09

In reply to The Future Of Disabled Mobility Tech

the obamacare will pay for this assistance
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Ash78, cube farmer
09/30/09

@Steve_in_NC: I never thought that the industrialized world would suffer from a shortage of sammiches for young women, but here we are. Poor girl can't even walk!
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PowerTryp is holding a Fiesta party.
09/30/09

In reply to The Future Of Disabled Mobility Tech
I think #9 has the greatest WTF factor out of all of these, yes even over Wes's robolegs.
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leavethegun-takethecannoli
09/30/09

@PowerTryp forever Minardi: It doesn't have to look like a bear, but it is probably one of the most important ones out there. Getting a disabled person in and out of bed or a therapy mat is a strenuous exercise. Sliding board transfers are difficult if transferring between uneven surfaces.
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vwminispeedster, pronounded Si-trow-in
09/30/09

@PowerTryp forever Minardi: Happy Bear Health Care Robot scares the crap out of me. I'll stick to yelling at my future grandchildren to haul me around on a whim.
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Scandinavian Flick
09/30/09

In reply to The Future Of Disabled Mobility Tech
Mind control? That is an awesome concept, but what about those of us (i.e. men) who think about sex 98% of the time? The wheel chair would be making the most obscene movements at the most inappropriate times...
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vwminispeedster, pronounded Si-trow-in
09/30/09

@Scandinavian Flick: motors would burn out from the repeated forward-back thrust action.
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Ash78, cube farmer
09/30/09

@vwminispeedster, pronounded Si-trow-in:
10 giggity
20 giggity
30 giggity
40 goo!
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