re: Point taken. I still wonder if stilts are the answer.
"The rider would have to be balanced by the machine, which, unlike a horse, wouldn't have independent judgment or self-preservation to guide it."
Computers can be easily programmed to have just such
"instincts". The Mars Rovers (ignore for the moment that
they have wheels) were programmed not to fall off cliffs
and such.
By the time such walkchairs become practical on a mass
scale, no doubt they will be even smarter and safer and
allow the user an even better feeling of actually walking
around than wheels can.
Of course the next step is to create artificial smart legs
that look and act like the real thing, so that these folks
don't have to endure any more ignorant social stigmas.