NaChair the Off-Road Wheelchair

Описание: 7 months ago, my fiancée Halle hurt her feet hiking, and stopped being able to walk long distances or hike. Hiking has been a really important part of our relationship over the last few years, and once we knew her feet were going to take a long time to heal, I decided I needed to fix the problem in other ways.

I searched for off-road wheelchair designs that could a) handle California's steep inclines and rugged trails, b) be carried by my existing hatchback, c) fit through doors and operate indoors when we're not hiking, and d) be relatively affordable and... I couldn't find ANYTHING that fit the bill. So, I decided to invent a new type of wheelchair and build it myself!

NaChair (Nature Chair) is a simplification of the mechanical suspension of a Mars rover, combined with a dune buggy seat and the front end of a kid's BMX bike. Its wheel rocker system passively conforms to terrain from front to back, and the body of the vehicle rolls from side to side using the front bike tire as a fulcrum. It's built to to handle climbing up and descending a 60% grade, driving over 8" obstacles, and has a range of over 5 miles on rough terrain at fast hiking speeds (3 mph).