control an rc car with no hands

[jose.28]

I met this kid on Facebook that is in a wheel chair and he controls his chair with his head.
He just posted asking if there was a way he can control his cars using something else rather then a TX. He watches his dad play with his cars and he really want to enjoy his cars.
Anyone know a way? He can't use his hands :/

 

[Alexander_0_1]

Can he use his feet, if yes then he can get a surface radio with toggles instead of trigger and dial.

 

[Rolex]

It sounds like he's a quadraplegic, meaning no use of legs, either.
If his father could build a bracket to mount a stick radio instead of the wheel type he could extend the sticks so the throttle could be controlled by a head forward/back and the steering with a longer joy stick in his mouth for left right.
The radio bracket could clamp to the arm rests, and it's also very possible he could do it with just one stick and a hat mount or head mount if not in his mouth. up or down would be throttle, side to side would steer.

 

[jose.28]

I just askes him. Waiting

---------- Post added at 8:45 PM ---------- Previous post was at 8:38 PM ----------

Cerebral palsay is what he has.

 

[Alexander_0_1]

My cousin Evan was shot in the back, he can't use his legs but he can close and open his toes, but he also can still use his arms.

---------- Post added at 8:48 PM ---------- Previous post was at 8:46 PM ----------

Aren't there devices that allow people to move their wheelchair by blowing into a tube, or biting down on a sensor or some kind?

 

[jose.28]

I dont know. I linked him to this page so he can see the replys. Ill see if he joins.

 

[Rolex]

We deal with all kinds of remote control devices. Once we get our collective heads together we'll get him driving.

 

[firejetboy]

hi I'm the kid....

 

[jose.28]

hi I'm the kid....

Thanks for joining us ben.

---------- Post added at 9:22 PM ---------- Previous post was at 9:20 PM ----------

Ben i have a picture of the chair. Its one of yours from facebook. Would you mind if i post it?

 

[firejetboy]

sureee

 

[jose.28]

Ok here's the chair.

Ben if you can fill these guys in on what you think may work and a lil bit about the way your chair work i think someone has an idea. There are alot of very smart people here.

---------- Post added at 9:35 PM ---------- Previous post was at 9:32 PM ----------

In that picture i see some wires from the head rest. It looks to be a 3 piece headrest am i right?

 

[firejetboy]

its hard to explain but this is the link for it
http://www.asl-inc.com/products/product_detail.php?prod=103#thumb

---------- Post added at 10:13 PM ---------- Previous post was at 10:01 PM ----------

my wheelchair has bluetooth on it if that give you guys an iidea...

 

[Rolex]

Hi Ben. We'll do all we can to get you runnin'.
Is that headrest also your controller to your chair?
Do you have any control of your hands or fingers? How about your feet?
Do you have full head and jaw movements?

Once we know what you'll need we can figure out if you can use pedals, joysticks or a mouthpiece.

 

[firejetboy]

ican't use my feet or month or hands or fingers

all i need is a controller that got 5 switch ports

then I'm good to go!

 

[Rolex]

What about head movement?

 

[firejetboy]

yeah.....

 

[Rolex]

We'll need more info than that. How much movement and in which directions?
A controller with 5 switch ports? We don't know what you're referring to so you'll have to be more specific.
This comes down to what we can design or build that will work for you. It's not something where we can tell you what store to get it in.

 

[Alexander_0_1]

I think what he needs is a Tx (transmitter) to be spliced into the wiring harness of his chair, after the interface, but before the chair motors, so that he can use his halo to control an R/C rather than it (chair). But how do you build something to interpret his head movements, and what do you use for a switch so the interface changes functions, so he's not moving all over the countryside while he's playing.

"5 port" Does that mean you halo has 5 ports/prongs in the wire connections?
What type of maneuvers can your chair pull off...forward, reverse, veering left or right, brakes?

What about using 1 stick control from an air radio, then programming it to accept the forward,reverse, and use the aileron function to manage steering. This way he can hopefully control an R/C with his chin, and he can still use his halo to adjust his veiw of the track.

 

[Rolex]

Post #3 was my thought on the air radio. Something he could control, apparently with his head only, that would move the stick on the radio. Forward/back or up/down for throttle, left/right for steering.
Any way we look at this, it would NOT be a good idea to have the chair turned on while using another device. The controller should have no electronic attachments to the chair, only mechanical mounting.
However the stick is controlled by head movements, the servo switches can always be reversed to accommodate his ability.
A computer radio would be recommended for adjusting exponential (Sensitivity) around center.
If you are able to bite down on something and hold it in your mouth, your head movements could control the stick with a minimum of effort.
Once we fully understand your abilities and your limits we can work out the bugs.

 

[Alexander_0_1]

I've seen one guy on the web so far that's been using you type of idea, but from a chin strap kind of thing.