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Today: November 21, 2002 at 7:30:18 PST Stair-Climbing Wheelchair Evaluated By LAURAN NEERGAARD ASSOCIATED PRESS GAITHERSBURG, Md.- Stairs soon may no longer be insurmountable obstacles for some of the nation's 2 million wheelchair users. The first wheelchair that can climb stairs - plus shift into four-wheel drive to scoot up a grassy hill and even elevate its occupant for eye-level conversation - took a major step toward the market Wednesday, as advisers to the Food and Drug Administration unanimously recommended it be allowed to sell. But the panel backed a few limitations on the Independence iBOT 3000 Mobility System -...

LONDON (Reuters) - Swiss and Spanish scientists are developing a mind-controlled wheelchair that could one day give severely paralyzed patients new independence. The system will use electrodes embedded in a skullcap worn by the patient to transmit messages from the brain to a computer which passes them on to the chair through a wireless (news - web sites) link. "Early trials using a robot indicate that with just two days' training it is as easy to control the robot with the human mind as it is manually," New Scientist magazine said on Wednesday. The system has been designed by Jose...

Giuseppe Cannella had a big surprise for his mother-in-law when he put a jet engine on the back of her wheelchair. Mr Cannella says the chair can now do top speeds of more than 60mph and has proved the star of a model plane championship during the Bank Holiday. A model plane enthusiast himself, Mr Cannella has been putting on shows at Barkston Heath near Grantham, Lincs. "It is just the wheelchair with the engine bolted on the back and steering on the front," he said. Holiday surprise "Originally it was a gimmick. I had a jet engine and I...