Abstract Individuals who are unable to walk independently spend most of the day in a wheelchair. This population is at high risk for developing pressure injuries caused by sitting. However, early diagnosis and prevention these still remain challenging. Herein, we introduce battery-free, wireless, multimodal sensors movable system continuous measurement pressure, temperature, hydration skin inte...

The wheelchair is the major means of transport for physically disabled people. However, it cannot overcome architectural barriers such as curbs and stairs. In this paper, the authors proposed a method to avoid falling down of a wheeled inverted pendulum type robotic wheelchair for climbing stairs. The problem of this system is that the feedback gain of the wheels cannot be set high due to model...

The purpose of this research was to evaluate the stability of measures of heart rate (HR) and oxygen uptake (VO2) during repeated 30-minute bouts of constant work-rate wheelchair ergometry. Ten able-bodied subjects (seven male; three female) completed three sequential, single-stage wheelchair ergometer propulsion tests, to exhaustion, at least 48 hours apart, to determine the reliability of mea...

objectives: wheelchairs are the prime mobility aid of persons with spinal cord injuries. manual wheelchair propulsion puts a lot of demand on the cardiopulmonary as well as the skeletal system. the main purpose of the study was to compare the effects of both arm ergometry training and progressive resistance exercise training of upper limbs on resting heart rate and distance covered during wheel...

Several groups have developed brain-machine-interfaces (BMIs) that allow primates to use cortical activity to control artificial limbs. Yet, it remains unknown whether cortical ensembles could represent the kinematics of whole-body navigation and be used to operate a BMI that moves a wheelchair continuously in space. Here we show that rhesus monkeys can learn to navigate a robotic wheelchair, u...

This paper describes the mechanical devices, the movements and the associated kinematic models of a novel wheelchair prototype capable of climbing staircases. The key feature of the mechanical design is the use of two decoupled mechanisms in each axle, one used to negotiate steps, and the other to position the axle with respect to the chair to accommodate the overall slope. This decoupling make...

Many elderly and disabled people experience difficulties when maneuvering an electric wheelchair. Additionally, many users are not prescribed a standard electric wheelchair because they lack the necessary cognitive skills or their impairment prevents them from steering an electric wheelchair safely. In order to expand the potential group of electric wheelchairs users and in order to make wheelc...

Whole-body shocks and vibrations experienced during manual wheelchair use can decrease an individual's comfort, increase the rate of fatigue, result in injury, and consequently limit mobility and community participation. We used a wheelchair-vibration simulator to examine whether the seat reaction forces experienced by wheelchair users were differentially influenced by wheelchair suspension, tr...

This paper presents design modification to the existing standard wheelchair by incorporating an improved propulsion system and also braking and tilting systems that allow its full control with only one hand. The proposed design has the propulsion system with a chain drive powered through a four-bar linkage driven by the main handle. The desired direction of motion is obtained by moving the leve...

Automated terrain classification for electric powered wheelchairs (EPWs) has two primary motivations. First, certain terrains (e.g., sand and gravel) make wheelchair mobility more difficult. To alleviate this problem the wheelchair control system can be manually tuned for maximum speeds and/or accelerations to help adapt to various terrains. Terrain classification can then be used to automate t...