The UNiMO continuous-track electric adventure wheelchair

gizmag ^ | November 13, 2013 | Mike Hanlon

[mylife]

With a minigun?

[2ndDivisionVet]

It's similar to the car in Ronin from which Robert DeNiro's character fired the light anti-tank weapon, but I haven't found a minigun yet.

[cva66snipe]

The pricing is in line with a traditional electric powered wheelchair. Most of the traditional motorized chairs start at about $15K-$18K depending on added options such as tilt back seat etc. My wife had a Jazzy Quantum 1400 for about 11 years and loved it. It could go most places she wanted to go. It was replaced with a Permobil C 300 and she definitely misses the old Jazzy.

The Permobil seems to have difficulty getting over even minimal things like raised thresholds more than a quarter inch high. The Jazzy had a much better stabilization system and kept it from flipping over once.

Track chairs have actually been around for way over 10 years probably longer than that. I remember seeing one or two at a disability equipment expo years ago and another chair that could climb stairs. This was also about the time the mini vans were starting to be converted for wheelchair access. We looked at one, laughed, and said no way it would make it up our driveway. We use a high top Dodge 250 van with a hydraulic wheelchair lift.

She would love to have a track wheelchair LOL.

[Doug Loss]

It's nothing new:

Tank Chair

[lapsus calami]

 

 

Yes! An all-terrain assault chair.

 

 

 

[Vendome]

Voila!

Before cup holders became standard in vehicles I didn’t drink in my car.

[Hardraade]

Very neat, but where’s the 20mm barrel.

Vital for balancing in stairs and terrain.

[Fresh Wind]

Cool device. Will Medicare pay for them?

As for the linked article...

Too much Apple worship there for my taste.

[2ndDivisionVet]

Any Apple worship is too much.

[cva66snipe]

On motorized wheelchairs {not the same thing as a hoveround or scooter} they are custom builds specific to the body measurements and limitations of the person. Also there are home accessibility requirements that have to be met. IOW can it fit through entrance, living room kitchen, bathroom, and bedroom doors? Most of the newer technology which for example can raise the person up to reach items on a shelf etc are not covered. They cover a basic motorized wheelchair and if the person qualifies due to need will also allow for a power tilting seat. Really though the cost for this one is about in the same ballpark as ones Medicare covers.

I'm not sure how much customizing could be done on the track chairs for example seating changes. The seats shown in the pictures generally would not work well for a quadriplegic for example. The seats have to be precise because if they aren't they can cause pressure sores. Expense of the specalized custom seating pays for itself. One bad pressure sore can cost thousands of dollars to treat.

Generally to get a motorized wheelchair it takes a doctors order, several appointments with a physical therapist with a dealer present then months of paperwork for doctor, therapist, and dealer to work through.

[Conspiracy Guy]

The tracks look too narrow for sand.

[rstrahan]

That design has been on my brain for years, dealing with the basic Jazzy and now my $25K power chair that still can’t handle a curb or rough terrain. Just not the engineer to do it. I would expect that these will sell very well, especially to outdoor tour operators. For example, there are walking tours off of Alaska cruises that normal power chairs can’t handle but this could.

[Conspiracy Guy]

Really need an internal combustion engine for outdoors an electric for indoors. A hybrid approach. 3 low pressure tires mounted on triangular rotating drive axles 4 sets of those. Except when climbing 8 tires on the ground. Gimballed seat stays level on any terrain. Etc

[MHGinTN]

I have more than one electric chair. One has fourteen inch wheels and I use it when doing yard work like weedeating and raking/leaf blowing. My yard is rather uneven and has a steep slope in one part, so you learn to track around up and down slope. Biggest problem is keeping traction because the drivetrain is powerful when fully engaged so the wheels will spin. I keep my canes with me, just in case.

[MHGinTN]

I’ve paid for all of mine ... I trust government to use the items as leverage, to try and shut someone up by threatening to come and get what they pay for. I own outright, with no government strings attached, to keep myself off their filthy grid.

[Doug Loss]

There are better alternatives:

[GeronL]

Johnny 5 is alive!!

[cva66snipe]

I have more than one electric chair. One has fourteen inch wheels and I use it when doing yard work like weedeating and raking/leaf blowing. My yard is rather uneven and has a steep slope in one part, so you learn to track around up and down slope. Biggest problem is keeping traction because the drivetrain is powerful when fully engaged so the wheels will spin. I keep my canes with me, just in case.

Her first one back in 1986 had 20 inch wheels. A Rolls Arrow I think. The tires had tubes that would sometimes blow out. I came proficient at changing tubes out in Walmart by using a shopping cart for a jack, buying the tube, and borrowing a tire pump LOL. Her chair now has 8 inch wheels.

On one chair because she is Medicare we tried to go cheap on. Very huge mistake. It made a pressure sore you would not believe and cost her 4 months in bed because it was on her bottom.

[cva66snipe]

I’ve paid for all of mine ... I trust government to use the items as leverage, to try and shut someone up by threatening to come and get what they pay for. I own outright, with no government strings attached, to keep myself off their filthy grid

Oh the state of Tennessee understands me real well. LOL. I have my own secrets on them they don't want let out and they know it LOL.

In 1985 she lost all her insurance as our employers policy holder canceled her after a transfer from one Knox hospital to Pat Neal Rehab. The insurer called it a discharge. We fould out about it three months and $150K later. This was before Tenncare also. Needless to say we went bankrupt back when the laws were more just. She's a quad with other complications thus uninsurable.