So here is a prototype of my latest project, the LEGO Wheelchair which is capable of moving a 90KG person around a room using just LEGO Mindstorms, LEGO Technic and Rotacaster multi-directional wheels. This is still a prototype and under constant development however I really wanted to let people see what I have been up to. My wife giving version 0.8 a test drive below:
Me having an initial go on version 0.5.
The lastest version uses 6 LEGO Mindstorms NXT’s for moving and 1 NXT(master) for controling the direction. Each of the driving NXT’s has 2 NXT motors attached to it and 2 touch sensors used to control direction. Its motors are connected to 12 Rotacaster multi-directional wheels. Using these wheels will later allow for side to side movement (strafing). The master NXT has 4 touch sensors connected (forward, back, left and right) and 2 motors to switch on the drive touch sensors. It is programmed in RobotC.
One of the next things on the list is to add remote control to the wheelchair using an Android device. The chair is controlled via 1 NXT, this will be very straight forward to control via bluettooth.
Special thanks goes to LEGO and Rotacaster for supporting this project!
Created by Simon Burfield
Source: www.burf.org.uk, 31/7/2012