DIY Electronic Controlled Motorized Wheelchair

Wesley does work in the medical field, and a DIY project that's been on his mind for a while has been to take a manual wheelchair and create an adaptable electronic system for it. He wanted to make the system cost effective, usable for many types of wheelchairs, and also achievable for anyone with a 3D printer and a few tools laying around. Check out his results! bit.ly/38pJcjh
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#0:00 Welcome to element14 presents
#0:22 Overview
#1:19 Design and Parts
#3:14 Putting it Together
#10:16 The Code
#13:44 Charging
#16:27 Conclusion and Test!
#17:53 Give your Feedback
#arduino #wheelchair #DIY #3Dprinting #mobility #motors

[@garylee7855]

My wife is having ankle surgery, and will be in a wheelchair for three to six months. This will literally be a lifesaver. Thank you!

[@JonathanBaileyn2u]

I just got my chair… I was told that I am too heavy for a motorized chair 🤔🤔 (but not a chair “I’m only 380” /6’-6”H). My chairs support weight is 700. I’m an Arduino junkie…. You my friend just gave me a grand foundation to build on 🙏👊👊🤙 Thank you. And yes.. I’ll refer back if the build goes well.

[@kayleighweldon7855]

Thank you for your resources and the time that went into this you can’t imagine how much this is going to change my life.

[@howdynun9967]

Thank you so much. So good idea. I got some idea to make my own.

[@chrisw1462]

I know sealed lead acid batteries are the cheap and easy solution, but you do realize you can only use about 3.5 Ah (50% of rated capacity) before before starting to reduce it's lifetime significantly? A lithium-iron battery would be a direct replacement, have longer (2-3x) lifetime, and let you use much more of it's rated capacity. Bass Pro Shops*** sells the Tracker LiFePo4 battery that would be a drop-in replacement for the Genesis (as would a lot of others). The 6 Ah version would be about 3x the price of the battery you chose, but have at least 50% more usable capacity per charge, and a much longer lifetime (500-1500 charge cycles vs. 200-300). Not only that, partial charge/discharge cycles actually extend the life of LiFePo4's. Doing the same to Lead Acid will lead to reduced lifetime. Storage presents similar problems - Lead Acid batteries sitting around doing nothing degrade much faster than Lithium Iron - especially if partially charged. And if you upgrade the charger as well, it'll charge a lot faster! If you're only using this enough to replace the battery less than once per year, it's probably not worth upgrading. Once per year or more, and a LiFePo4 will save a decent amount of money. ***Disclaimer - I am not a Bass Pro shill, nor do I advocate them or Tracker batteries over any other. This was just one example from many that would work well, chosen for being well known and available in a lot of areas in the U.S. Tracker batteries have a 2 year warranty, so I 'assume' (don't! :-) they're decent. YMMV. (Also, I personally like being able to talk to a human, in person, if I have issues after the sale, so I buy local whenever possible.)

[@kylemedeiros4989]

You're awesome! Great work.

[@Gam3T3cHElectronics]

Thanks eh! Kyle, your awesome too!

[@georgeaura]

Now this I would personally love to have for myself

[@chrisw1462]

Heck, I'd love to have one, and I don't even need a wheelchair.... yet.. :-)

[@LazyBunnyKiera]

I't looks like you used digital switches for the movement, i'd go analog using an RC car/helicopter/airplane gimbal joystick. Adjustable speed and far more control over turning.

[@rbuschy]

What I would change - I'd relocate the drive motors back lower on the wheel and I would move the Power Switch to the armrest and I would have it a key/ignition switch. It would also be helpful to have a power meter where the person in the chair can easily see it. Wishlist item - Some sort of cordless charging dock.

[@Gam3T3cHElectronics]

So in a facility you don't want them to have access to the power all the time, this was my reasoning for limiting the location of the power and charge port. having a a simple battery meter would be easy enough to incorporate but was not warranted in the first design here. But yes relocating the motors would be something I would be looking at in the future of the design. I will be playing with it more and coming up with more ideas with it. Thanks eh! for posting appreciate the feedback.

[@xXDeltaXxwhotookit]

The current position is relatively unobtrusive for someone pushing the chair. While it wouldn't be impossible to mount them lower and still have similar access, the frame would be more challenging. (I know I have to be careful to not knock myself moving my Mam's chair around - admittedly more on slopes than this specific intended use case).

[@chrisw1462]

As a retrofit, this placement is about the only option. You cannot put them forward of the seat back, as that would present an entanglement issue with the patient's clothing and interfere with self-moving the chair by hand. Moving them any further back would present support issues, increased entanglement possibility for anyone pushing the chair, and increased possibility of collision damage when reversing. The only way to really improve the drive without any other issues would be to modify the wheel hubs - a little much for a retrofit.

[@castlecodersltd]

Nice video. Thank you

[@Gam3T3cHElectronics]

Thank you too eh!

[@ms.gemini4657]

Can you fold the wheelchair up for storage with it like this?

[@EmersonBoone-dk9gq]

Hi is there a way to do this without the joystick? Just make the wheels motorized themselves?

[@MehwishVlogsofficial]

Nice 👍

[@georgengugi1892]

Hello friend please tell me what software you are using to design and guide me on how to do the actual design. Thanks

[@shanebyars]

I was thinking you could put the rollers below the frame in front. To help with the added weight distribution. Also, you already have a good mount point there and might need as much added structure.

[@Gam3T3cHElectronics]

Great point but but with most chairs there is always one spot you will have no issues mounting to and that was the location I decided to go with depending on the chair and design it might not work correctly. I was going for something that could be added to any chair without much messing around. But I certainly will have to give that a shot tho moving the location of the motors to a few different spots.

[@theshadow5472]

Sir, can you advice me on how to upgrade my electric wheelchair to run a bit faster and stronger safely? My wheelhair has two motors. Each has 250 watts. It has 2 batteries as well. Both are lead acid with a capacity of 12v 17.2ah each battery. Do I need to change my controller as well? Or is there a significant upgrade that won't be needing to upgrade also my controller? This is the keywords in Amazon 2021 Model Fold & Travel Lightweight Electric Wheelchair Motor Motorized Wheelchairs Power Wheel Chair Aviation Travel Safe Heavy Duty (Red - Black). Hope you could help, Sir.

[@darkyv4469]

Hey element, what sort’ve 3d printer I should buy for a project like this ?

[@henryplested6701]

What is the reference for the crossbar that you use?

[@salimdatoo1793]

Amazing I work in a classroom of special needs children I wish we could have these made for us

[@henryplested6701]

I am working on a low cost pediatric mobility device. are u in the US?

[@salimdatoo1793]

@@henryplested6701 I'm in Canada

[@stalinaamechstudent2868]

could you please explain about the what type of controler,battery,and motore.

[@DiyintheGhetto]

This looks awesome. It will help a lot of people who can not afford a motor wheelchair. I was curious over time the little motor hub wheel being plastic how long would it last? I would think over time it will wear down.

[@Gam3T3cHElectronics]

Of course over time it will wear down but since the speed is so low it should take some time I did use PETG Filament for the rollers. The tires are also a solid core tire so no need to ever add air and change the friction on the drive.

[@DiyintheGhetto]

@@Gam3T3cHElectronics I understand now thank you.

[@georgeaura]

And some tweaking to the idea can make it more versatile

[@CelphMedeVEVO]

Yep like a better gear ratio. Could’ve used a bigger gear on the motor and smaller gear on the tire

[@NiHaoMike64]

Have you considered modifying a hoverboard to be controlled by a joystick and then attaching it to the wheelchair in some way?

[@Gam3T3cHElectronics]

If I had the money I would certainly put that on my to do list.

[@margaretragle1337]

Where can you find the kit?

[@leglessinoz]

you reversed the 3 pin standard for wheelchair charging. Pin 1 is +ve, pin 2 is -ve and pin 3 is usually inhibit (connected to pin 2).

[@howardbrooks8810]

Hehehe it even has a creepy sound 😳😜. Creepy Ironsides 😜 Yeah a bit slow for me jack , something with a speed control would be better . But very good video , shows what can be done without speeding ten thousand on a commercially available clip-on unit . 👍

[@PreciousJr-du7cc]

What are the name of the motors please?

[@alih.alwaily]

Great work How did you choose the motor specification ( like torque , power ... etc ) according to the weight ? Please answer me .. i need the answer so much

[@Gam3T3cHElectronics]

Well its a nema17 motor so I did go with one with more torque since we would be running from a dead weight to move a body in the chair. This being said I certainly would like to try different locations and different motors and rollers on the chair.

[@unziq1987]

Hay Can we get all things. Price please?

[@Creations-hj2kq]

Can we as a community come up with a DIY solution to use your passenger existing chair and mount it to a swival and so it can extend outward and inward using a back hand held up/down/right/left controller. Can we use parts off a electric chair and its range of motion, wheel bearing off a car for rotation or a swival we can buy that is already on the market. I own a tig welder and i have access to sheet metal and i just dont know where to start. When i google for an electric passenger chair they want $5,500. Just insane.

[@pitapitabread]

i don't have a 3D printer. do i need one for these diy projects?

[@MyVanHaven]

There are websites you can look up online that will print files for you. If you have the files, you can look for places that will print them & clean them & ship them to you. If you don't have the files (I don't see anywhere where he posted these files unfortunately), you should also be able to find someone online who can help make or recreate this set up he made. That's what I plan to do.

[@georgeaura]

I have an electric chair but a manual chair motorized would be much more capable in more terrain mostly cuz of the weight differences

[@Gam3T3cHElectronics]

There is a unit invacare made a while back but the batteries were like 1600 dollars each and now obsolete and you know anything medical = more $$

[@fatimoe336]

Code please ?

[@91722854]

now i just to to wait till i go crippled or can't walk due to being weak or from old age and justify building one of these,

[@mariacynthianuguid6242]

Can I pay you to do my wheelchair?

[@jasongooden917]

try 24 volt

[@jasongooden917]

giant raspberry pi

[@gower1973]

I don`t see why you need to use stepper motors for this, isn`t the point of steppers for tracking the position of the motor angle, couldn`t you just of used normal brushless motors, its also pretty noisy.

[@Gam3T3cHElectronics]

Sure could have but I wanted to see if I could actually do it with stepper motors. and it worked.

[@char8631]

Too complicated, too many parts, how disappointing.

[@810mb3Rg]

Why steppers?? Many questionable choice here

[@Gam3T3cHElectronics]

who doesn't have a few stepper motors laying around? And it was more of a "Can I make it work" idea then anything.

[@MikeFarnhamGalaxysEdgeGroup]

why...do...you...talk...like...a...robot...?

[@ChrisLocke1969]

sorry to disappoint you, but as soon as you sit, its going to stop - no way two wimp steppers motors are moving a human. Nice try though.

[@bald_engineer]

Weird how Wesely, aka a human, sat in the chair and it moved. So... I guess there is a way. Nice try though.

[@ChrisLocke1969]

@@bald_engineer ya, so briefly, i missed it first time. Looks like motors grinded to a halt and/or batteries choked. 🤗

[@bald_engineer]

@@ChrisLocke1969 No worries, I get it. Trolls have to troll. Nice try though.

[@Gam3T3cHElectronics]

It moved me, my daughter and my dog around......mind you it was slower for me. But yes even from a dead stop on a smooth surface it will work. If a wheel chair with good bearings and proper seating weight distribution is done. PS. I repair wheelchairs scooters and power chairs for a living. I set them up for people all the time. I was pushing the limit of the motor tho but anyone lighter then me its all good. And yes I would certainly be into making another unit with more torque but on a budget and parts most would have around this was a cost effective and a project anyone could build. But thank you for the comment. I appreciate the input and your concern. Have a wonderful day eh!

[@ChrisLocke1969]

@@Gam3T3cHElectronics its a great start nonetheless... i think solving problems for the disabled is the best thing we can do with robotics and automation... keep up the good work! And ya, i hear ya, budget always holds back progress... a couple of Nema 23 motors should do it! 🤩😎