Name: How to Build a Motorized Wheelchair for Kids! - Easy!
Uploaded: 2020-05-02T18:36:02.000Z
Duration: 7 min 54 s
Description: Thousands of YouTube videos with English-Chinese subtitles! Now you can learn to understand native speakers, expand your vocabulary, and improve your pronunciation...

[Zack] Okay, now we have the accelerator wired up to this button. Cambry do you want to...

[Zack] So he's about to see the car for the first time. We're going to bring him in here.

He doesn't quite know he's going to get it yet. It's pretty incredible all the technology

[Cambry] There are 300,000 children in the U.S. from birth to 3 years old that could

[Zack] But wheelchairs are super expensive...anywhere from $10,000-25,000.

[Cambry] And the kids grow out of the wheelchairs so quickly that it's hard to financially support

[Zack] But I think we found a solution that's pretty cool and very cost effective.

[Zack] So this is a little electric toy jeep that we got off Amazon for about $150. Today

we're going to give it to a little kid who has something called chromothripsis – which

means he has some cognitive and physical delays, making it harder for him to, you know, keep

up with his friends on the playground. Which is pretty important when you're a kid. So

in order for us to make it easier for him to drive around, we're going to move the electric

accelerator pedal up to the steering wheel so there's less coordination required when

he's driving around. Everything is right there next to his hands. Luckily there are lots

of different styles of electric vehicles. Jeeps just happen to be his favorite so that's

So it's actually a lot easier than you think to move the accelerator up to the steering

wheel, which we haven't installed yet. The pedal has some plastic clips at the bottom

with two wires. It's a simple switch. They are spade bit connectors which you can buy

pretty much anywhere - any local hardware store or electronics store.

So since the accelerator is a simple switch, we're just going to add another simple switch

to the steering wheel which is this giant red button. The switch right now has a headphone

jack. I never thought I'd say this, but in order to remove the headphone jack, we're

just going to cut it off. And add the same common spade bit connectors to the ends of

these two wires. Since the button is going to be mounted right here on the steering wheel,

we're going to drill a small hole right there underneath the dashboard, route the wires

underneath to the accelerator pedal, that way the kid's feet won't get tangled up in

Okay, now we have the accelerator wired up to this button. Cambry do you want to...

Now that we've finished adapting the acceleration, we can add the steering wheel and just finish

assembling the Jeep, you know, as a normal Jeep. This is one of the simplest modifications

that we can do to one of these vehicles, and I'll show you some of the more complicated

builds in a second. Let's get this finished.

[Zack] What does it snap in like, Cambry?

[Cambry] It snaps...I don't know...like a little....Oh! It snaps like a little Lego.

[Zack] I thought I had her trained. Not yet.

As you probably realized at this point, the accelerator switch can be moved basically

anywhere on the vehicle since the switch is pretty universal and can be mounted anywhere.

[Cambry] He likes dinosaurs and jeeps so we're going to customize his jeep and do a little

paint job with these dinosaur stickers. Some serious static going on.

[Zack] Got one shot. Most of these vehicles have a weight limit between 40-60 pounds,

which is the perfect size for a kid. So if we take a look underneath the hood here, this

has dual motors, one for each of the rear tires. But the cool part is that since this

has a remote control, there's also a motor for the power steering. And because of that

power steering, or the remote steering, it makes it easy to install a joystick, which

So the cool thing about these vehicles is that it gives the kids something of their

own. Something they can use to keep up with their peers or explore their surroundings.

[Cambry] These cars aren't just used to assist with mobility, but they can also be used on

[Zack] The whole thing functions with this little tiny switch. This is what's inside

that giant red button. And that button can be placed anywhere. I'm going to have Cambry

show you on this little motorcycle thing.

[Cambry] So with this toy, the button is reversed in that if a child sits on it, it kills the

switch. So the child has to stand up to use it. And now it's a toy that also helps strengthen

the leg muscles and it motivates the child to stand.

[Zack] This car has been modified to help a child with grip strength. This same little

tiny switch is right here inside of the grip so that the child has to use his grip strength

to get the car to move instead of the large button or the foot pedal. Basically it's tricking

the children into developing their muscles by using toys.

[Cambry] Remember, there are 300,000 kids that can benefit from something like this.

This vehicle, for instance, has a back support on it. So if the child has a difficult time

with stability, they can encourage the child to sit upright and push the button with their

[Zack] The cool thing about the roll cage or the support structure is that three-quarter

inch PVC fits perfectly inside of a pool noodle. So you get the padded protection around the

plastic. So as you can see, the options are pretty unlimited. There are a lot of different

cars out there and different ways you can modify them for the kids' specific needs.

So he's about to see the car for the first time. We're going to bring him in here. He

doesn't quit know he's going to get it yet. Luckily Cambry here has a little remote control

so she can remotely operate the vehicle. We'll see if he likes it. You ready Cambry?

You can always build one of these on your own. I'll leave all the parts that we used

today down in the video description. But there's also an organization called Go Baby Go.

[Cambry] And we've decided to donate 10 cars to kids through this organization that gives

[Zack] Go Baby Go has chapters all across the United States. I'll leave their link as

well down in the video description. So if you or someone you know needs one of these

cars for a kid, you can always reach out.