Several readers sent us links to an NIST news release about their robotic wheelchair research. The goal of the project is to understand what a robotic wheel chair needs to do so that appropriate standards can be developed. Their research has lead to the development several robotic healthcare mobility devices including the HLPR robotic chair (previously known as RoboChair), a 3D camera that provides navigation for the blind, robotic leg lifters, and a patient lifter. For more, see the recent ScienceDaily story on the NIST robotic wheelchair. For the technical details on what the robotic wheelchair can do and how it works, see the paper, HLPR Chair - A Service Robot for the Healthcare Industry (PDF format).