Flutterby™! : robot parts? 2005-04-17 20:32:12.13865+00

robot parts?

2005-04-17 20:32:12.13865+00 by Dan Lyke 2 comments

You know you're too far gone when... I read this article about Welfare fraud in the Bay Area, which starts out:

Brigido and Quintina Pullan, both 81, have no use for the pair of power wheelchairs and the two semielectric hospital beds sitting in unopened boxes at their tiny South of Market rental unit. Yet the federal government's Medicare program was billed more than $15,000 for them.

And my first reaction was "Ooh, I'll bet those power wheelchairs would make kick-ass robot platforms. I wonder if there'll be a surplus market for them?"

Locally is the parent company to many of those 'mobility carts' you see advertised on late night and afternoon TV. I'm not sure which name they are using this month. And it seems like their 'child' divisions change names every week or two.. while they aggressivily submit claims for their 'clients'. If you are already a part of the healthcare 'system', and you even call them for info I'll wager they start the paperwork process for whatever they can bilk the system for.

As for surplus market: You might get lucky, but eBay.com seems to have killed a lot of such opportunities. Although, Eric and I have caught the local Wheelchair place on housecleaning day and gotten lucky.

Yep. The place over off McCallie and Holtzclaw puts out the remnants of about six powered wheelchairs a month. Sometimes it's the frame that's messed up. Sometimes it's one of the drive motors. Sometimes it's the batteries. But they put out enough stuff that in a few months, you can create quite a collection. At the very least, the wheels form the user-propelled wheelchairs make great bicycle trailers.