Patent attributes
A wheelchair for quadrupedal animals enables a limb-disabled four-legged animal, with its trunk cradled in the wheelchair's harness, not only to ambulate on its own, but also, upon halting its wheelchair-assisted ambulation, to transition into sitting and prone positions, and from either of those positions, to transition back into a standing position to again ambulate on its own, independently, without need for human manual assistance. The quadrupedal animal wheelchair includes: a quadruped-supporting main frame; the trunk-cradling harness; at least a pair of wheel stays carrying wheels; a control unit; a wheel-state sensor; and drive mechanisms for altering the position of the wheels in the wheel stays. Analyzing wheel state input from the sensor, the control unit determines wheel position, and commands the drive mechanisms to alter the wheel positions so as to transition the wheelchair into and back from positions allowing the animal to sit, lie prone, or stand.
