XVI. Wheelchairs and Powered Vehicles

V. Wheelchairs and Powered Vehicles

Mobility Assistive Robots for Disabled Patients

2.1 Background Wheelchairs are one of the most important mobility aids for disabled patients and elders. In general, wheelchairs are categorized as manual and powered types. From the viewpoints of movement behaviours, the powered wheelchair can be regarded as a mobile robot (Asai, 2001) if additional environmental sensing components are built and an intelligent motion controller is included. Th...

Trends in nonlicensed mobility aids.

The scope of nonlicensed vehicles includes electrically powered wheelchairs, golf-cart-type vehicles, a variety of multifunctional devices, and some gasoline-engine-powered vehicles . Until several years ago, the standard nonlicensed powered vehicle was the Everest & Jennings "34" Power Drive Wheelchair (Fig . 1) . This unit has been directed to institutions and general indoor environments wher...

IntellWheels - A Development Platform for Intelligent Wheelchairs for Disabled People

Many people with disabilities find it difficult or even impossible to use traditional powered wheelchairs independently by manually controlling the devices. Intelligent wheelchairs are a very good solution to assist severely handicapped people who are unable to operate classical electrical wheelchair by themselves in their daily activities. This paper describes a development platform for intell...

Use of manual and powered wheelchair in children with cerebral palsy: a cross-sectional study

BACKGROUND Mobility is important for the cognitive and psychosocial development of children. Almost one third of children with cerebral palsy (CP) are non-ambulant. Wheelchairs can provide independent mobility, allowing them to explore their environment. Independent mobility is vital for activity and participation and reduces the dependence on caregivers. The purpose of this study was to descri...