• Skip to main content
  • Skip to header right navigation
  • Skip to site footer
  • WordPress
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
  • LinkedIn
  • YouTube
Science Update

Science Update

Sharing Science | Satisfying Curiosity | Debunking BS

  • Spotlights
  • Reality Check
  • Why Is It?
  • Radio Archives
  • Sciup @ School
Home » Radio Archive » Daily Show » Future Wheelchairs

Future Wheelchairs

January 17, 2011
https://podcast.scienceupdate.com/110117_sciup_whee.mp3

Podcast: Play in new window

BOB HIRSHON (host):
Wheelchairs of the future…I’m Bob Hirshon and this is Science Update.

Electric wheelchairs help many disabled people live fuller lives. But operating them on surfaces like gravel, mud, or wet grass can be hazardous. Now, Florida A&M University roboticist Emmanuel Collins and his colleagues are designing an electric wheelchair navigation system which works like an automatic transmission in an automobile.

EMMANUEL COLLINS (Florida A&M University):
We’re changing the settings of the joystick that the driver uses to control the electric powered wheelchair so that they become more like an expert off-road driver.

HIRSHON:
He says the system will use a laser sensor to detect the type of terrain the wheelchair is about to encounter.

COLLINS:
If we sense that you’re on wet grass, then we know that you don’t want to accelerate too quickly because the vehicle will slip. But the joystick setting will make it so that it’s very difficult for the driver to stop too quickly or accelerate too quickly.

HIRSHON:
I’m Bob Hirshon, for AAAS, the science society.

Category: Daily ShowTag: Engineering & Technology, Medicine & Health, Terrorism & War
Previous Post:Nerves & Muscle Roundup
Next Post:Asian Carp Invasion

Sidebar

Radio Program Archives

Want to learn more about the brain? The environment? Here you can browse the topics that come up regularly on Science Update.

Search the Archives

Categories

  • Daily Show
  • Station Download
  • Weekly Show

Find By Tag

  • 2020
  • Acoustics & Sound
  • Aging
  • Animal Behavior
  • Anthropology
  • Archaeology
  • Astronomy & Space
  • Biology
  • Brain Science
  • Bugs
  • Cat Video
  • Chemistry
  • Children & Families
  • cicadas
  • Climate & Weather
  • Communications
  • Computer Science
  • Economics & Business
  • Education
  • Energy
  • Engineering & Technology
  • Environment & Conservation
  • Genetics & Evolution
  • Geology
  • Marine Science
  • Materials Science
  • Mathematics
  • Medicine & Health
  • Microbiology
  • Nanotechnology
  • NASA
  • Nutrition & Food Science
  • Paleontology & Dinosaurs
  • Physics
  • Plants & Agriculture
  • Political Science
  • Reality Check
  • Social & Behavioral Sciences
  • Sports & Fitness
  • spotlight
  • Spotlight Bugs
  • Terrorism & War
  • Why Is It? Questions
  • Wildlife
  • Year in Review

Find By Date

Science Update
  • About Science Update
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of Use

Follow Us

  • Facebook
  • YouTube

Recent Posts

Image of computer screen depicting an orange cat with a variety of alphanumeric scientific data superimposed on the the screen.
Spotted skunk performing handstand to threaten predators

Copyright © 2025 · Springtail Media LLC · All Rights Reserved · Powered by Pongos