Using robotics, I was able to motorize a manual wheelchair for a little girl with muscular dystrophy. She can no longer walk and gets too tired propelling a wheelchair with her arms. Her insurance won’t cover a power wheelchair and even if they did, they weight 200-500 pounds and her family would never be able to get it in/out of their house or car. This wheelchair is much lighter even with the robotics installed (maybe 40 lbs, didn’t actually put on a scale) and her family can transport it easily. I used a Sabertooth 2x60 motor control board, wheels from robot shop and the motors are also from robot shop. I would have used a gear box from robot shop as well but a different one was better for attaching to the wheelchair. The first video is me moving the wheelchair with the joystick. The second video is the little girl using the chair for the first time. I hope you enjoy.
youtube.com/watch?v=MG8VGIo3bkE
youtube.com/watch?v=umxDBLPed_Q
That’s an awesome project strwberrys645, congratulation.
You are already far from this point but here is a nice link to the Open Wheelchair project. Using PVC frame instead of a real steel one but still a very nice low cost project.
Thanks for sharing… 
Open wheelchair is actually where I got the idea. The pvc wheelchair would not provide enough positioning for her but I figured why couldn’t I apply the same idea to a regular idea. It’s going to open up alot more ideas for me now 
I recall seeing a motor assist for a bicycle, that simply used a friction wheel on the motor, that pressed against the bicycle tire. I imagine the same thing could be implemented for a regular wheel chair.
A plain wheelchair is not that expensive. But, as soon as you add a motor, for some reason both the price and weight jumps an order of magnitude. I am guessing that this might be because someone who needs the motorized version is typically more disabled. Therefore the wheel chair must be less prone to tipping, and better able to support the user.
Of course, anything medical tends to have a very high price tag. Not because of the cost of the item itself, because they must do so much government approval and certification. I understand why, since they are literally taking people’s lives in their hand. But, at the same time, I wish there were a way to somehow bypass all that certification, and get a product to market, and allow the user to assume the risk. I guess that open wheelchair project project is exactly that.
-Joe