OECU&R-Techs

“Electric mobility, cars and motorcycles are my passion, so the race at CYBATHLON is just the right challenge for me”, states Toshiki Ogura, “I saw videos from the last CYBATHLON and talked to team leader Seonghee Jeong, after that, I knew I want to be there! This is about development and progress.” The Japanese man had been working in the car trade, had an accident at work and has been in a wheelchair ever since. “With our RPWheel wheelchair, I want to overcome barriers that I am currently unable to overcome with a manual wheelchair, the type, I use in my daily life." says the Japanese from Hirakata and continues: “Going downstairs is a bit scary, quite different from when you are walking. But I love the challenge and I trust my team.”

Their four-wheeled wheelchair, called RPwheel24, is the third prototype of the RPwheel Series. It is equipped with two active omni-wheels in the front, two active wheels in the back, and two crawlers under the seat. The unique scissor mechanism is adopted in the wheelchair body to tackle the challenge of the lift-up barrier. To challenge the lift-up barrier, it adapts a unique sensor mechanism. It can negotiate rough terrain as well as narrow spaces. A compact and lightweight master-slave robot arm is mounted on the wheelchair to overcome daily barriers, such as picking up objects and opening doors. We started the development in 2022 as a preliminary prototype of RPwheel24 for the CYBATHLON 2024. In the future, our RPwheel should reach the level of a commercial wheelchair.