I bought a wheelchair for $500, and added batteries (another $200).
The seat has the joy stick on it, but other than that, it is all self contained in the lower portion.
The thought occurs to me, if I put a laptop on a platform, using wifi to connect the computer to the internet, some servos to control the joy stick and a tv camera with pan and tilt capabilities connected to the computer, I could sit at my computer, and send my little robot vehicle off into the real world.
Can you imagine my little fellow going to the store 3 miles away, picking items off the shelf, paying for it via the i-net, and bringing it home to me?
I think a few $$$ and some off the shelf items could make it work.
Am I way off base (he asks the engineer)?
....Bob
That is essentially what the Military is doing with some of their small robot gun platforms. In truth you would not even need the joystick (on the chair), the power electronics to control the chair motors is currently off the shelf hardware and can be interfaced directly by model airplane RC controls. I'd be a little dubious about using the Internet for "real time" control of any remote vehicle as I don't know what response time could reasonably be expected of the control loop. You wouldn't want your "little guy" to run into a "dead spot" and wind up headlong in traffic!
The difference between your idea and the powered exoskeleton is a wheel chair does no (or very little) heavy lifting and thus requires relatively low power actuators. Direct electric drive is practical as are battery packs. The exoskeleton however is intended for "heavy lifting" which requires power. The highest power density available (horsepower per cubic foot) is hydraulic and so makes a powered exoskeleton possible. Notice "possible" is not necessarily practical. The actual source of power and cooling have yet to be addressed by the prototypes demonstrated. They do look promising however. GtG