Stair-Climbing Wheelchair Gets FDA's OK

AP | 8/13/03 | LAURAN NEERGAARD

[apackof2]

WASHINGTON - Stairs are about to become less of an obstacle for some of the nation's 2 million wheelchair users.

The Food and Drug Administration on Wednesday approved a wheelchair that literally can go up and down steps _ as well as shift into four-wheel drive for grassy hills and elevate its occupant to standing height.

Called the iBOT Mobility System, the wheelchair uses sensors and gyroscopes to navigate stairs while balancing on two wheels. Doctors have said the technology is potentially revolutionary. But it is so complex that the FDA decided the wheelchair will require a doctor's prescription and special training to drive.

The iBOT costs $29,000, less than some top-of-the-line models for the severely impaired but far more than basic wheelchairs. The maker, Johnson & Johnson subsidiary Independence Technology, is negotiating with Medicare and other insurers but could not say Wednesday if payment to users was likely.

Sales will begin by year's end, a J&J spokesman said.

Wheelchairs have become increasingly sophisticated. Some raise a user a few inches to be able to reach high objects. More agile models specially are designed for zipping around basketball or tennis courts.

In the early 1990s, the FDA approved one model solely for stair-climbing, but it never became popular because it did not provide more routine transport, said Robert DeLuca, the FDA scientist who led the iBOT evaluation.

The iBOT, in contrast, is an all-purpose wheelchair that also climbs stairs, he said.

"We think this is something that can really benefit patients," DeLuca said. "It offers many advantages to anything else we've ever seen."

Most wheelchairs have two big back wheels and two smaller front wheels. The iBOT has four wheels the same size that rotate up and over one another to go up and down steps.

It does require some user exertion, meaning the iBOT is not an option for all wheelchair users.

People must have the use of at least one arm to operate the iBOT's joystick and other controls. Then they lean forward or backward, directing the chair to climb up or down as the gyroscopes sense and adjust to the person's center of gravity.

Users must hold onto a stair rail to help guide the iBOT, although there is a feature that allows someone else to hold onto the chair's back and assist the more severely disabled on stairs.

So far, it is not built for children or for people who weigh more than 250 pounds.

Dean Kamen, the well-known inventor whose credits include the Segway scooter, created the iBOT and licensed it to Johnson & Johnson. He says he built it not just for the stair-climbing ability but the extra elevation, too _ because wheelchair users had told him they longed to carry on eye-level conversations with people standing nearby, and reach top grocery shelves by themselves.

To prove iBOT works, 18 wheelchair users test-drove it for two weeks. Scientists compared maneuverability in the iBOT versus users' regular wheelchairs in everyday situations and in special road tests.

Twelve patients could navigate stairs alone with the iBOT, while the rest used an assistant. In regular wheelchairs, one patient could literally bump his way down stairs, but no one could go up a single step.

Three people fell out of the iBOT and two fell out of their own wheelchairs during the study _ none on stairs and none was seriously injured _ suggesting the iBOT was as safe as today's technology, the FDA concluded.

But the iBOT is complex enough that the wrong person using it could get hurt or injure bystanders. So, Independence Technology set up an FDA-approved program to strictly control sales.

Doctors and rehabilitation therapists must be licensed to prescribe the iBOT. Then, they would administer tests to potential users to ensure they are physically capable of handling the machine and have the right judgment skills to discern obstacles, such as which hills are too steep to try climbing.

If users fail the test, they cannot buy an iBOT.

___

On the Net:

Independence Technology: http://www.independencetechnology.com

[apackof2]

Interesting...

[BushCountry]

Great machines, the technology is unbelieveable, however no one will be able to service or afford them. Medicare will not pay for them.

[CanisRex]

Very interesting. What grand times we live in! For every terrorist packing a lethal arsenal in a backpack, we have so much bounty that really improves the quality of life for so many of us.

[joey'smom]

Dateline had a piece on this Sunday night -- truly amazing machine! John Hockenberry was the correspondent and compared his wheelchair with it -- no comparison! His jaw was actually dropping at the sight of what this new chair could do.

[js1138]

[Bogey78O]

It'll be the equivilant to a handicapped man's yaucht.

We'd best tax it to deter such frivolous expenditures!

[js1138]

http://www.dynopower.freeserve.co.uk/homepages/newchair.htm

[joey'smom]

Just in time for Larry Flynt's campaign! Wow!

[TBall]

I wonder how that think would do down a long pitch? Maybe try it on the stairs in George Town.

[Bogey78O]

He's far too drugged out to handle it.

[xm177e2]

no one will be able to service or afford them

$29,000 is the cost of a low-end luxury car. If people can afford those, people will be able to afford these. Hell, there are people who save up money for years on end just to get a doctor to cut their johnson off. An iBOT would be worth $29,000 to a lot of people.

Medicare will not pay for them.

Good! Every time a new technology or medicine comes out, we shouldn't have to provide it to everyone sick, old, or disabled. Costs would keep rising and government would keep growing. The faster we innovated new things, the faster the burden would grow on the innovators.

If you have enough money to support your robotic wheelchair addiction, or you can sucker someone else into paying for it, then by all means, get one and I'll be very happy for you. This isn't the sort of thing taxpayers should be picking up the tab for.

[BushCountry]

The difference between these $29,000 wheelchairs and a car, is that to service them they will have to fly in a tech. The repair costs will be over a $1,000 a pop just for labor. Heck, if they sell a boatload of them, it might be a good market to get into for us techies. I would love to work on them. My inner geek talking.

But, if someone can afford them, the freedom it provides is great. These are remarkable machines and I hope they improve the quality of life for all that can afford them.

[TBall]

I would have no problem having the government making a small investment in this technology. Say the buy 1,000 Ibots and use a lottery system to determine who gets to use them. The small investment could get the ball rolling towards making this device much more affordable.

[Bosco]

The word is Dilaudid.

[Petronski]

It'll be the equivalent to a handicapped man's yacht. We'd best tax it to deter such frivolous expenditures!

I'll bet dollars to donuts that there are liberals lurking here who find your post as proof Republicans are heartless bastards.

So little do they know. ;o)

[Bogey78O]

I'm not heartless. I care a lot.

I just want to tax those rich parapalegics so victims of their inequality can enjoy life.

[Petronski]

Heh heh heh.

[Calpernia]

>>>>Good! Every time a new technology or medicine comes out, we shouldn't have to provide it to everyone sick, old, or disabled. Costs would keep rising and government would keep growing. The faster we innovated new things, the faster the burden would grow on the innovators.

Wow! You have a great point; but may I point out that your message would travel further in a different context?

I too am an angry tax paying conservative. However, if you word your words better, ie, let the new invention be subsidized by private philanthropies...that message may reach more then your approach. And it will keep you from being flamed.

[Criminal Number 18F]

This is closely related, both corporately and technically, to the Segway.

Insurers will gladly pay for these wheelchairs because they will allow disabled people to return to productive life more rapidly and completely. To the insurers, this is disability money they need not pay. WHo do you think buys handicap vans for people who are too far gone to use a normal car with hand controls? Medicaid, and other insurers.

As someone pointed out, this technology will become less costly with time and volume.

I have a friend who is a perfect candidate for one of these. He's paralysed from the nipples down. He also can afford it (he invested the settlement and disability money wisely, and he makes a great living as an engineer). He has not let the conventional chair hold him back, but one of these will really give him wings.

This could be the last great advance in wheelchairs, because other therapies are likely to make spinal cord and other nerve tissue injuries non-crippling within our lifetimes. It's an exciting time to be alive in the Free World.

d.o.l.

Criminal Number 18F

[RJCogburn]

I have not met him, but the inventor, Kamen is a brilliant and fascinating fellow, to judge by what he does here in Manchester.

He invented the intravenous infusion pump a number of years ago. He is working on a "science hall of fame' thing in which the great scientists and their accomplishments are featured.

He has started a place in the Millyard call Science Enrichment Encounters for kids to get introduced and excited by science.

He started a national science competition in which teams build robotic devices and have their national competition in Disneyworld.

Just a fascinating fellow.