OBJECTIVE The aims of this study were to investigate outcomes of older people's use of powered wheelchairs and risk factors for negative outcomes. DESIGN The study was a cross-sectional interview-study including 111 powered wheelchair users over 65 years of age. RESULTS All participants used their powered wheelchair in the summer; nearly all users regarded it as important and found that it ...

Navigating within an unknown indoor environment using an electric wheelchair is a challenging task, especially if the user suffers from severe disabilities. In order to reduce fatigability and increase autonomy, control architectures have to be designed that would assist users in wheelchair navigation. We present a framework for vision-based autonomous indoor navigation in an electric wheelchai...

In this paper we describe the hardware design and the control, and navigation system of our robotic wheelchair MAid (Mobility Aid for Elderly and Disabled People). Following the advice of disabled people and physicians we did not set out to re-invent and redevelop the set of standard skills of so-called intelligent wheelchairs , such as FollowWall, FollowCorridor, PassDoorway, which are commonl...

BACKGROUND For people who have a mobility impairment, access to an appropriate wheelchair is an important step towards social inclusion and participation. The World Health Organization Guidelines for the Provision of Manual Wheelchairs in Less Resourced Settings emphasize the eight critical steps for appropriate wheelchair services, which include: referral, assessment, prescription, funding and...

As the number of handicapped people increases worldwide, Intelligent Wheelchairs (IW) are becoming the solution to enable a higher degree of independence for wheelchair users. In addition, IW Projects relevance is increasing, mainly in the fields of robotics and safety-related systems due to their inherent and still unresolved problems related with environment uncertainty, safe communications a...

BACKGROUND Premature failures of wheelchairs in less-resourced environments (LREs) may be because of shortcomings in product regulation and quality standards. The standards published by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) specify wheelchair tests for durability, safety and performance, but their applicability to products used in the rugged conditions of LREs is unclear. Bec...

OBJECTIVES The limiting factors with regard to power output available for wheelchair ambulation have not been identified. The aim of the present study was to correlate power output during wheelchair driving with (i) power output and oxygen uptake during arm crank ergometry and (ii) arm muscle strength. METHODS Eleven disabled men were examined for maximal power output (POmax) during wheelchai...

Most of the wheelchair users are paraplegics, who are not able to move on their own due to permanent injury in their lower extremities. These wheelchairs are four-wheeled and have certain limitations due to design and control mechanism. For example, the wheelchairs cannot move to a higher level, lift the front wheel and stay in an upright position. As a result, wheelchair users cannot reach cer...

Many aspects relating to equipment configuration affect users' actions in a manual wheelchair, determining the overall mobility performance. Since the equipment components and configuration determine both stability and mobility efficiency, configuring the wheelchair with the most appropriate set-up for individual users' needs is a difficult task. Several studies have shown the importance of sea...

This cross-sectional study describes the level of manual wheelchair skill performance and participation of persons with spinal cord injuries (SCIs) 1 year after discharge from inpatient rehabilitation and tests the hypothesis that wheelchair skill performance is positively related to participation. Participants included 81 persons with SCI from eight rehabilitation centers in the Netherlands. T...