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The iBOT 4000 review - armrest problems and the wheelchairs
balance mode and 4 wheel drive modes
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4. Armrests
Another real major cock up. This is another "styling" change
from the original iBOT Powerchair 3000. It makes this
chair pretty much unusable by anyone that needs to transfer
(as I do) by lifting bodyweight directly on the
armrests and using a slider
board. This means most paraplegics and the like will
NEED to use the arms like this And they are far too fragile
for this..
The
picture below shows only how it is too short, but not how loose
and weak it is! It also shows a bit of armrest
sticking out at the rear of the seat - only a few inches, that can causes space
and manoeuvring problems, evidenced by the white paint
that's on it! This is just a slight issues though...
I also need to
lift my backside clear of the seat as well every few mins to allow
some circulation and prevent pressure sores. As do ALL
paraplegics and some others with assorted problems.
This involves lifting my full bodyweight on the armrests
alone..
The problem is
that in their misguided committee redesign department
(bean counter, marketing bod, several dummy users, etc BUT
NO ENGINEER) they
decided to use a new seat back (itself stolen from some
American truck) together with its lift up armrests.
Well whilst it
may look very pretty, it has absolutely no strength in it at
the point where the arms fit onto the seat back. And
they are too short. They
are designed as "arm rests" for a fat trucker. NOT as
a device that's strong enough to lift bodyweight from while
transferring!
The ones on the
demo iBOT in the picture at
the top of the page were seriously loose and sloppy already -
rest of the chair looked as new - moving about by several inches in every direction when
even gently
pushed. And this chair is used only for shows and by
non disabled people mainly who don't even need to stress the
arms. It certainly isn't used 12 hours per
day 365 days per year as mine will be.
God only knows
how they expect a 17.5 stone bloke (their own designated weight limit) to
lift (pressure relief) or lift during transferring on those
flimsy armrests!
I had to do my very best not to break the chairs arms by
lifting instead on some towels placed on the seat cushion.
They are just plain weak and unsuitable.
Just who
designs these things! Its obviously true that they
never considered function. Or the real users needs. Only aesthetics. If
I was the design engineer I would have taken one look at
the suggestion and burst out laughing while I sacked the
idiot. The whole idea of putting your complete
bodyweight on to a pair of automotive seat armrests is
ludicrous. And essential in about a third of the
people that will want one of these chairs. Designers???
My God! I EXPECTED them to be a weak point just by
looking at the pictures. I was only surprised at quite how
bad they actually were. These kind of things are just
totally amazing on a wheelchair that costs as much as some
really well designed and built top of range cars.
I would bend or
damage an arm every single time I transferred (say 6 times a
day or more) if I ordered one of these chairs. Andrew
Spencely - nice guy and representative - told me it would be
no problem as they were under warrantee and no matter how
many times I broke / bent / damaged them they would be
replaced! Hardly the answer though is it?
Another frankly ridiculous design decision. Every day the
chair would go back for three days to be repaired! And
what about after warrantee is over? I would expect
better design from a £17,000 chair.
They apparently
"asked" a group of users what they wanted. Twenty
of them. They wanted the
arms to lift up. So rather than listen to an engineer
/ user like me, that could have told them it was stupid idea they
just did it!
As I said designed by a
committee! If one had said they wanted aircraft
warning lights and a roof rack then it would probably have
that as well no matter how useless it would make the chair.
So in summary? Armrests are incredibly stupid! And the
floppiness also effects the control of the chair and its
joystick too. Not good enough on a £17,000 Powerchair.
Bad Independence Technology! Again something
that's simple to rectify (even I could do it inside a day)
but they don't seem interested.
 5.
Balance mode
(big image)
Balance mode is improved on the 4000 version. They have
updated some sensors/software or something. Its now smoother
without the hunting (moving back and forth on the spot) to
keep its balance. It feels stable and safe, and seems
to move less as you lean or reach out for a beer for
example. All good stuff!
You can raise the
seat pretty high while balancing so as to reach the highest
shelf, or wash the roof of your van. But in its
highest position its forward speed is limited to about 2mph.
With the seat in its lowest position but still balancing, it
can drive about at around 3 to 4 mph quite happily on
reasonably flat surfaces. . Its fast enough.
Technically its not supposed to go up or down a slope above
5 degrees, or over an obstacle bigger than 1 inch in balance
mode! So I had to test this out...
Directly across the road from my house I spotted a typical
real world ramp. It leads to another driveway, but the ramp
has a 1.5 to2 inch step up, after the road camber leads you
downhill towards it. See picture below.
Obviously I was travelling the opposite way, in the
direction the photo was taken towards the door....
This was too much
for the iBOT travelling towards it in balance mode and it
decided to either topple over, or sit back down on 4 wheels
as it is designed to do in this event.
Theoretically it
would have "stepped forwards" and sat down onto 4 wheels but
Andrew was quick to grab the backrest and stop anything
happening so we don't really know quite what would have
happened!
Anyway, if you
drive it within its limitations, as you will be trained to do, there
will be no problem! I just had to find out though. I
really like this balance mode - it feels natural and
comfortable. But its not much use on our rough cracked
broken pavements and roads. Great inside, or in a
shopping centre, playground, or while drinking a beer...
If this chair was really usable in normal mode
(later!) I would buy one for this balance feature alone and
spend most of my time in it as conditions allowed.
6. 4 wheel
drive mode
Nothing remarkable has changed here since the original
iBOT 3000 test.
 It still keeps the
seat level on up and down ramps. Its still only really of
any use going in dead straight lines. Since its "tank
steering" and therefore skid steering tries to rip the very skinny tires of their far
too small rims!
And one look below at the tyres as you
turn soon stops you trying that again! This skid
steering also murders batteries... And tyres.
And carpets should you try it! Its a shame because
otherwise it would be very useful as the ride is smooth and
stable.
I built my own Powerchair 4 wheel drive skid
steer base, and it has non of these tyre issues, because it uses
stronger construction tyres and wider rims.
here
so it need not be like this. Failed again!
So you can use it
to go up a ramp that's a bit too steep for balance mode, but
you cant turn after you climbed or descended the ramp or
curb. The real problem here is just the tyres and wheel
combination was a bit, well, stupid!. See tyres section
later on!!!
Continued on next page
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