ANDREW RICH

THE CURB CLIMBER

A big problem that the U.S. faces, along with other countries, is that we don’t have

enough ramps to accommodate all the people that must use motorized chairs. Even here in Utah,

where we have good environment for this problem, I see places where there is a curb, but not a

nearby ramp for the chair to get onto the sidewalk. Either the people in the chair need to try and

find a ramp nearby, or they need be lifted by a couple of people, and run the risk of being

dropped. I have a friend with a form of cerebral palsy, and he hates it when people pick him up,

because he does not want to be dropped. To fix this problem, we either need change all the

sidewalks that don’t have ramps, or build the chairs to be able go over the curb, and that is where

my solution comes in.

My solution is to build a base that will be built into the bottom of the chair that would

have six wheels. I will consist of: the back wheels, the main middle wheels, and two extra wheels

on the front. The back wheels will have motors so that they can push off the ground to help lift

the chair. The middle wheels will be the biggest and be the main support for the chair. The two

extra wheels on the front will usually be kept perpendicular to the ground, pointing up, and have

motors that will allow them come down and push against the ground with the back wheels. When

the chair will arrive at a curb, the front wheels will come down and push against the ground

along with the back wheels lifting the chair and the middle wheels above the curb. From there

the wheels will move the chair forward until the middle wheels are over the curb and can pull the

back wheels up. This provides a fast and easy way to get the chairs over the curb, without having

to lift it physically, or spend millions of dollars altering sidewalks around the U.S.

The curb climber would affect millions of people all over the world and help make their

lives easier, along with the lives of the people around them. There are more than ten thousand

children born each year with a form of cerebral palsy, and that is not the only thing. People with

cerebral palsy are just a fraction of the people it will help. There are many other diseases,

injuries, and birth defects that would cause a person to have to use a motorized chair. Hopefully,

with the curb climber, we can help people who need be in these chairs to be more independent,

and be able to easily get over curb and maybe other small raises in the ground. If made right the

curb climber could also go down a curb or dive by using the same tech

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