Everything You Need to Know About the iBOT®’s Balance Mode
iBOT® PMD users often identify Balance Mode as one of the most important features of the iBOT®. It allows for increased reach and lets users be seen in a crowd or when crossing the street. Being up in Balance Mode lets the user move and interact with standing people and feel the difference of communicating at eye level.
But how does it work?
Dean Kamen, when inventing the iBOT®, used the human body as a model. His goal was to “help people who can’t walk go more of the places that walking people go.” He needed to create a vehicle to be both compact and stable and do what a person walking does – BALANCE!
Information the body receives from the eyes, inner ears, muscles and joints combines to give humans a sense of balance. The brain processes this information and tells the body how to react to keep itself upright and balanced. The iBOT®’s technology mimics this. The iBOT® receives input not from eyes, ears and muscles, but from its sensors, such as gyroscopes. The device, like the brain, processes the information and tells the motors what to do to keep the iBOT® and its user balanced, like muscles moving legs and feet. While in Balance Mode, users can feel the device swaying, or dithering, to keep itself balanced.
The iBOT® is built with safety in mind. If there is an error in a gyroscope, there is a backup set to take over. The four gyroscopes calculate thousands of data points per second to maintain the balanced position. If the iBOT® senses instability when in Balance Mode – if the wheels slip on wet leaves, for example – it will automatically transition to 4-Wheel Mode where all four wheels are on the ground, to regain stability.
Users enjoy Balance Mode in several ways. Some use it to access cabinets in their kitchens, shelves in the grocery store, or books up high in the library. Others are grateful to be able to have a conversation at eye level while still others like that the raised height allows them to see or be seen at a concert or when crossing the street.
Rise to the occasion and live freely in Balance Mode with its built-in safety features, gyroscopes, and humanlike design. To schedule your iBOT® Personal Mobility Device demo, call us at 1-833-346-4268 or email info@mobiusmobility.com.
