Putting wheelchair users in the driving seat

A system that combines robotics, laser and wireless technologies promises to make it safer and cheaper for wheelchair users to drive a car without significant vehicle modification.

Engineers at Lehigh and Carnegie Mellon universities, worked with Freedom Science and Freedom Lift to develop the Automatic Transport and Retrieval System (ATRS). Scheduled to go on sale next spring, ATRS allows wheelchair users to get in and out of their vehicles, stow and retrieve their chairs, and drive while sitting in standard automobile seats.

ATRS contains three key components: an articulated power seat that extends outside the vehicle to facilitate wheelchair-to-seat transfers, a power lift platform, and a ‘smart’ wheelchair system.

Users move the powered wheelchair next to the driver's side of their vehicle. Using a remote-control device similar to a key fob, they open the vehicle door and direct the vehicle to lower the driver's seat alongside the wheelchair. They then slide over from the wheelchair into the driver's seat. Once in the driver's seat, they deploy the power lift platform from the rear of the vehicle through the touch of a button.