When Dean Kamen offered the world the iBot, a wheelchair that could climb stairs, people were overjoyed by the concept. This joy was overshadowed by the $25,000 price tag that each iBot came with, often pushing people away from the device. Toyota wants it to make a resurgence, with a partnership with Dean Kamen hoping in creating a new generation of iBot.
The iBot is designed to allow wheelchair users the freedom to climb stairs, an ability given by its unique orientation while a side effect of its orientation being that its users are at the same height as if they were standing up, a trivial feature that could help please and comfort wheelchairs users from around the world.
With neither of the companies looking at confirming a release date, they were happy to share a picture of a new prototype (shown above). The prototype is being marked as something that could have “potentially other purposes”, a hint that makes us wonder how much of the technology could get into areas like health care devices and the wave of automated transportation that has only now started to release onto our streets.
With the wheelchair in development from a company as large as Toyota is could be but only a few months before we start to see the iBot return to our stores, giving people a new wave of freedom.
