Prowler Tracks - The Dig

Spartan Liberty Tracked Wheelchair

Posted by:

rubber track chair frame designProwler was contacted this past winter by Young Park, a Mechanical Engineering student from California, who was looking to rebuild a previous college teams “Climbing Wheelchair” and was in need of rubber tracks and drive sprockets to help continue the project. We quickly agreed to help the team along and donated the requested parts, and shipped them off to help them along.

We believe it is very important that when you have the ability to help someone achieve something great, why not do it. We see this as been a stepping stone in this teams research and development into something worthwhile and we have great appreciation for what they are wanting to do.

The Teams (Spartan Liberty ) primary objective is:

The goal for this project is to modify the previously designed stair-climbing wheelchair to modify its performance. The performance metric is defined by the chairs ability to successfully climb and descend a flight of stairs, possibly to the maximum allowable angle according to the state of California’s building code, of 38 degrees. The Spartan Liberty will provide the rider all-terrain access in addition to the primary challenge of climbing stairs. Additionally, the rider will be kept in a vertical position (perpendicular to the ground) during the climb and descent. Lastly, is to improve the safety of the rider, which includes track covers, roll hoop, and safety harness.

This is the update that we received about three months ago from Spartan Liberty:

  • With the exception of the electric motors and the frame, most of the previous design will not be used. The cleanup has netted a weight reduction of 220 lbs. From the old design, the chassis was mostly retained although is currently undergoing weight reduction to improve the chairs climbing ability. We were unable to find some of the dimensions of the track, so some of the undercarriage components are on hold in the CAD phase. However, with the generous donation of Prowler Tracks of the track and sprocket set, we will be able to complete the undercarriage assembly of the Spartan Liberty and move onto refining the drive software.–Young Park, Mechanical Engineer

Today we received an update once again, and they have their new chair design up and running. Watch the video.

Keep up the great work guys! We look forward to seeing the completed project!

0
  Related Posts

You must be logged in to post a comment.