iBot 4000
The iBot is an advanced robotic wheelchair. It allows users to get up curbs and go up and down stairs. It can also raise its seat so the user can reach higher spots or talk at eye level with a standing person.
- Creators
DEKA and Mobius Mobility
(Originally developed by DEKA, now offered by Mobius Mobility.)
- Year
- 1999
- Country
- United States 🇺🇸
- Categories
- Features
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Did you know?
Dean Kamen, founder of DEKA Research, invented the iBot after seeing a man in a wheelchair struggling to go up a curb to enter a mall.
History
Research and development on an all-terrain wheelchair began in 1990 at DEKA, founded by inventor and entrepreneur Dean Kamen. The iBot was first publicly announced in 1999. Johnson & Johnson's Independence Technology partnered with DEKA, investing $100 million to license and commercialize the technology. The iBot launched as a medical device in 2003, with models ranging in price from $22,000 to $29,000, of which Medicare would cover only about a fourth. In 2009, Independence announced that it was discontinuing production. Kamen kept working on it, though: Starting in 2012, a new version began going through the FDA approval process, and in 2016, Toyota announced its support for the iBot by licensing the wheel balancing technologies underlying both the iBot and the Segway. In 2019, the next generation iBot was announced, to be sold and distributed by Mobius Mobility in Manchester, N.H.
Specs
- Overview
Capable of driving on grass, sand, and uneven terrain. Equipped with wheels that rotate around each other to allow the robot to climb stairs.
- Status
Discontinued
- Year
1999
- Website
- Width
- 67 cm
- Height
- 126 cm
- Length
- 106 cm
- Weight
- 127 kg
- Speed
- 10.9 km/h (standard driving mode)
- Sensors
Gyros, accelerometers, and rotary encoders.
- Actuators
DC motors
- Software
iBalance software for dynamic stabilization when iBot is in self-balancing mode.
- Power
7.2-Ah nickel-cadmium battery
- Cost
- $25,000
