New Modular System Places Handicapped Operators in Standard Auto Seats and
   Stows Their Wheelchairs While They Drive 
From: Medical News Today - 12/26/2006

Engineers at Lehigh and Carnegie Mellon universities, working with a
Philadelphia-based start-up, have integrated robotics, laser and wireless
technologies into a new system that promises to make it safer and cheaper for
wheelchair users to drive a car. 

Read read the entire article at:
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/medicalnews.php?newsid=58905

Links:
Automatic Transport and Retrieval System for Power Wheelchairs
http://www.resna.org/ProfResources/Publications/Proceedings/2005/Research/SM/LoPresti.php

Vision-based Control for the Automated Transport and Retrieval System
http://vader.cse.lehigh.edu/projects/atrs/

Robotics, Laser And Wireless Technologies Make Driving Safer For Wheelchair
   Users 
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2006/12/061212212548.htm

John Spletzer
http://www.freedomsciences.com/?page_id=team

Submitted by Robert Van Etten



Safer Driving
From: NASA Tech Briefs Insider - 01/04/2007

Engineers at Lehigh and Carnegie Mellon universities, working with Green Lane,
PA-based Freedom Lift Corp., have integrated robotics, laser, and wireless 
technologies into a new system that promises to make it safer for wheelchair 
users to drive a car. 

Current solutions for wheelchair users who desire independent mobility require 
operators to sit in their chairs while driving. Because they are often poorly 
secured and not crash-test-approved, wheelchairs provide far less protection 
than standard seats. The new Automatic Transport and Retrieval System (ATRS) 
allows wheelchair users to get in and out of their vehicles, stow and retrieve 
their chairs, and drive while sitting in standard automobile seats. 

The ATRS contains three key components: an articulated power seat that extends 
outside the vehicle to facilitate wheelchair-to-seat transfers, a power lift 
platform, and a "smart" wheelchair system. ATRS makes it possible for a limited 
mobility individual to safely transport their wheelchair into and out of a motor 
vehicle without the assistance of a caregiver.

For more information, visit: http://www.freedom-lift.com/index.asp?pageId=138