Ben Heck Builds Wheelchair Add-On for Hands-Free Mobility
"While I'm not a parent myself, I understand the immeasurable bond between a parent and child. I couldn't resist helping an excited father-to-be improve mobility while in his wheelchair, allowing for him to take care of his baby and spend as much one-on-one time as possible," said Ben Heck, a modding guru.
That’s why Heck teamed up with element14, an engineering community and electronics store, to design a motor assembly mod that attaches to a wheelchair. The design allows the soon-to-be father to have hands-free mobility to get around while safely carrying his newborn.
To create the tank-like motorized control mechanism and foot-controlled joystick, Heck used an H-bridge DC motor driver and a few MOSFET transistors to control speed and direction. Leveraging the weight of the chair and the front tine that sits on the footrest, the add-on motor assembly connects to the wheelchair.
The assembly was featured on a recent episode of “The Ben Heck Show,” a biweekly online television series. Watch the episode here.