Mechatronics Student achieved distinction!

We have the results of the 21 Edition of the DPS Software Student Design Competition “Back to the future”. A mechatronics student from our faculty, Marcin Oszkinis, Eng. won a distinction for his work: Electric wheelchair with adjustable seat and footrest position. The supervisor was Paweł Dzienis, PhD, Eng.

The idea to create a model of an electric wheelchair arose during the realisation of his engineering thesis. When designing the wheelchair, the dimensions of the components were chosen so as to ensure comfort while driving for a disabled person. The wheelchair was equipped with a wide, soft seat with armrests, height-adjustable seat, footrest, push-button backrest, rear-wheel drive, front swivel wheels and joystick control.

Behind the wheelchair seat there is a lockable storage compartment that can be used to carry shopping, allowing the disabled person to steer the wheelchair more comfortably as their hands will be free.

The wheelchair was equipped with two worm gear motors with a geared motor, a lithium battery, an arduino mega 2560, five motor controllers, five actuators, a step-down inverter, a GPS module and a GRPS module.

An arduino mega 2560 was used to control the entire trolley due to its large number of outputs/inputs, which allow more components to be added without having to replace the control board. Actuators are used to raise the seat, extend the footrest, tilt it and tilt and hold the backrest position.

The use of the GPS module makes it possible to determine the location of the disabled person based on the longitude and latitude readings. The use of the GRPS module allows an SMS to be sent to the carer with the location read from the GPS module. The carer’s control of the location will allow them to check if the patient is lost and significantly improve their safety.

Congratulations and we wish you further success!