multi-directional

World First : The LEGO Wheelchair

Posted on by burf2000

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.

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.  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.

Flickr stream

Special thanks goes to LEGO and Rotacaster for supporting this project!

 

 

Check out my wheels!

Posted on by burf2000

I have managed to get hold of some very cool Rotacaster.com.au 125mm omni-directional wheels to try out.  I managed to use up most of my yellow technic beams building this massive platform which will eventually house a large robot.  I plan to mix it up a bit with some of the new metal parts I have been sent including some very large beautiful linear actuators.

The video below shows the platform easily moving over 12.5kg of weight using 4 XL power function motors. The wheels are a little on the heavy side compared to a normal Lego wheel however they are massively stronger and can hold over 100kg per wheel.  They are 6 studs wide.

If you are interested in these wheels, please contact Rotacaster.com.au