The Experts below are selected from a list of 55116 Experts worldwide ranked by ideXlab platform
Rory A Cooper - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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Comfort and stability of Wheelchair backrests according to the TAWC (tool for assessing Wheelchair discomfort)
Disability and rehabilitation. Assistive technology, 2014Co-Authors: Eun-kyoung Hong, Rosemarie Cooper, Brad E. Dicianno, Jon Pearlman, Rory A CooperAbstract:AbstractPurpose: The goal of this study was thus to determine if people with different types of Wheelchair backrests on their personal Wheelchairs reported different levels of comfort as measured by the Tool for Assessing Wheelchair disComfort (TAWC). Methods: Participants were between 18 and 80 years of age and were manual Wheelchair users. The TAWC was used to assess the participants’ Wheelchair seating discomfort levels with the Wheelchair and seating systems. Results: We surveyed 131 Wheelchair users to assess the comfort of their backrests on their personal Wheelchairs and found a trend suggesting that rigid backrests are were less comfortable as compared with sling backrests. This finding was statistically significant in a subgroup of participants with tetraplegia. Conclusions: Although many clinicians expect rigid backrests to be more comfortable because they may provide more support, the higher discomfort ratings among rigid backrest users with tetraplegia may be due to sub-optimal shape, fit, adj...
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Wheelchair skill performance of manual Wheelchair users with spinal cord injury.
Topics in spinal cord injury rehabilitation, 2012Co-Authors: Michelle Oyster, Rory A Cooper, Ian Smith, R. Kirby, Suzanne L. Groah, Jessica Presperin Pedersen, Michael L BoningerAbstract:Many individuals with a spinal cord injury (SCI) rely on their Wheelchairs to complete daily mobility tasks. Unfortunately, the natural environment creates many mobility challenges for Wheelchair users. A study by Meyers et al found that Wheelchair users reported curbs, uneven terrain, and travel surface as barriers to their mobility.1 To negotiate these mobility tasks, Wheelchair users require certain Wheelchair skills. A study by Kilkens et al found Wheelchair skills performance to be moderately associated with participation.2 Therefore, the inability to perform certain skills can limit a Wheelchair user’s functional independence and participation in daily activities. The purpose of this study was to examine Wheelchair skill performance of manual Wheelchair users with SCI among 6 Model SCI Systems (MSCIS).
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Relationship between Wheelchair durability and Wheelchair type and years of test
Disability and rehabilitation. Assistive technology, 2010Co-Authors: Hongwu Wang, Hsin-yi Liu, Jonathan Pearlman, Rosemarie Cooper, Alexandra Nicole Jefferds, Sam Connor, Rory A CooperAbstract:Objective. To investigate the relationship between the durability of Wheelchairs according to American National Standard for Wheechairs/Rehabilitation Engineering and Assistive Technology Society of North America (ANSI/RESNA) Wheelchair Standards and Wheelchair type as well as year of test.Design. A retrospective study design with a sample of 246 Wheelchairs that were tested in accordance with the ANSI/RESNA standards from 1992 to 2008 including four types of Wheelchairs: manual Wheelchair (MWC), electrical powered Wheelchair (EPW), scooters and pushrim-activated power-assisted Wheelchair (PAPAW). Unconditional binary logic regression analysis was chosen to evaluate the relationship between test results and test year as well as Wheelchair type.Setting. Rehabilitation Engineering Research Center.Main Outcome Measures: Wheelchair durability test result (fatigue test: pass or fail)Results. There was no significant correlation between the year when tested and equivalent cycles. A significant relation was foun...
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how many people would benefit from a smart Wheelchair
Journal of Rehabilitation Research and Development, 2008Co-Authors: Richard C. Simpson, Edmund F. Lopresti, Rory A CooperAbstract:Independent mobility is important, but some Wheelchair users find operating existing manual or powered Wheelchairs difficult or impossible. Challenges to safe, independent Wheelchair use can result from various overlapping physical, perceptual, or cognitive symptoms of diagnoses such as spinal cord injury, cerebrovascular accident, multiple sclerosis, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, and cerebral palsy. Persons with different symptom combinations can benefit from different types of assistance from a smart Wheelchair and different Wheelchair form factors. The sizes of these user populations have been estimated based on published estimates of the number of individuals with each of several diseases who (1) also need a wheeled mobility device and (2) have specific symptoms that could interfere with mobility device use.
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Participatory design in the development of the Wheelchair convoy system
Journal of NeuroEngineering and Rehabilitation, 2008Co-Authors: Vinod Sharma, Rory A Cooper, Richard C. Simpson, Edmund F. Lopresti, Steve Hayashi, Casimir Mostowy, Joseph Olson, Jeremy Puhlman, Ed Konarski, Barry KerleyAbstract:Background In long-term care environments, residents who have severe mobility deficits are typically transported by having another person push the individual in a manual Wheelchair. This practice is inefficient and encourages staff to hurry to complete the process, thereby setting the stage for unsafe practices. Furthermore, the time involved in assembling multiple individuals with disabilities often deters their participation in group activities. Methods The Wheelchair Convoy System (WCS) is being developed to allow a single caregiver to move multiple individuals without removing them from their Wheelchairs. The WCS will consist of a processor, and a flexible cord linking each Wheelchair to the Wheelchair in front of it. A Participatory Design approach – in which several iterations of design, fabrication and evaluation are used to elicit feedback from users – was used. Results An iterative cycle of development and evaluation was followed through five prototypes of the device. The third and fourth prototypes were evaluated in unmanned field trials at J. Iverson Riddle Development Center. The prototypes were used to form a convoy of three Wheelchairs that successfully completed a series of navigation tasks. Conclusion A Participatory Design approach to the project allowed the design of the WCS to quickly evolve towards a viable solution. The design that emerged by the end of the fifth development cycle bore little resemblance to the initial design, but successfully met the project's design criteria. Additional development and testing is planned to further refine the system.
Yoshinori Kuno - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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Autonomous Bus Boarding Robotic Wheelchair Using Bidirectional Sensing Systems
Advances in Visual Computing, 2018Co-Authors: Shamim Al Mamun, Antony Lam, Yoshinori Kobayashi, Hisato Fukuda, Yoshinori KunoAbstract:Research interest in robotic Wheelchairs is driven in part by their potential for improving the independence and quality-of-life of persons with disabilities and the elderly. Moreover, smart Wheelchair systems aim to reduce the workload of the caregiver. In this paper, we propose a novel technique for 3D sensing using a conventional Laser Range Finder (LRF). We mounted two sensing systems onto our new six-wheeled robotic bus boarding Wheelchair to locate the bus door and its determine its dimensions. Additionally, we have implemented a Single Shot Multibox Detector (SSD) to detect the bus doorsteps to allow for boarding. For precise movements, we successfully measure the height of the bus doorsteps and door width of the bus. Our step measurements and bus doorsteps detection technique for the Wheelchair also enables the Wheelchair to autonomously board a bus. Our experiments show the effectiveness and applicability of our system to real world robotic Wheelchair freedom of movement.
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Single Laser Bidirectional Sensing for Robotic Wheelchair Step Detection and Measurement
Intelligent Computing Methodologies, 2017Co-Authors: Shamim Al Mamun, Antony Lam, Yoshinori Kobayashi, Yoshinori KunoAbstract:Research interest in robotic Wheelchairs is driven in part by their potential for improving the independence and quality-of-life of persons with disabilities and the elderly. Moreover, smart Wheelchair systems aim to reduce the workload of the caregiver. In this paper, we propose a novel technique for 3D sensing of the terrain using a conventional Laser Range Finder (LRF). We mounted this sensing system onto our new six-wheeled robotic step-climbing Wheelchair and propose a new step measurement technique using the histogram distribution of the laser data. We successfully measure the height of stair steps in a railway station. Our step measurement technique for the Wheelchair also enables the Wheelchair to autonomously board a bus. Our experiments show the effectiveness and its applicability to real world robotic Wheelchair navigation.
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Formations for Facilitating Communication Among Robotic Wheelchair Users and Companions
Social Robotics, 2015Co-Authors: Yoshinori Kobayashi, Taichi Yamada, Keiichi Yamazaki, Ryota Suzuki, Yoshinori Kuno, Akiko YamazakiAbstract:To meet the demands of an aging society, researches for intelligent/robotic Wheelchairs have been receiving a lot of attention. In elderly care facilities, care workers are required to have a communication with the elderly in order to maintain their both mental and physical health. While this is regarded as important, a conversation with someone on a Wheelchair while pushing it from his/her behind in a traditional setting would interfere with their smooth and natural conversation. Based on these concerns we are developing a robotic Wheelchair which allows companions and Wheelchair users move in a natural formation. This paper reports on an investigation how human behaves when the Wheelchair users and their companions communicate while moving together.
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Multiple Robotic Wheelchair System Considering Group Communication
Advances in Visual Computing, 2014Co-Authors: Ryota Suzuki, Masaya Arai, Taichi Yamada, Yoshihisa Sato, Yoshinori Kobayashi, Yoshinori KunoAbstract:In recent years, there has been an increasing demand for elderly care in Japan due to the problems posed by a declining birthrate and an aging population. To deal with the problem, we aim to develop a multiple Wheelchair robot system that moves with multiple companions collaboratively. In actual care, we noticed that for a group of four people, which included Wheelchair users and their companions they tended to break up into two sets of two (1 Wheelchair user and 1 caregiver) to move around or communicate with each other. Based on this observation, we propose a robotic Wheelchair system that facilitates coordinated movement between the Wheelchairs and the companions while maintaining suitable formations for communication among the group.
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Analysis of Socially Acceptable Smart Wheelchair Navigation Based on Head Cue Information
Procedia Computer Science, 2014Co-Authors: Razali Tomari, Yoshinori Kobayashi, Yoshinori KunoAbstract:Abstract Smart Wheelchair can be defined as a standard power electrical Wheelchair that equipped with a mobile robotic technology to assist the user in a number of situations. Most of the smart Wheelchair work focusing on safety issue and less work considers a socially acceptable issue. Since Wheelchairs are normally used in human-shared environment, it is important to ensure the assistive motion generated from the Wheelchair is safe and comfortable to the human in the surrounding. Here the framework for catering such an issue is proposed. The system initially infers human's state from head cue information. Next, the information is interpreted for modeling human's comfort zone (CZ) based on rules rooted from Proxemics concept. Finally, the Wheelchair's motion is generated by avoiding both, the CZ and the in place obstacle. Experimental results demonstrate the feasibility of the proposed framework
Richard C. Simpson - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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how many people would benefit from a smart Wheelchair
Journal of Rehabilitation Research and Development, 2008Co-Authors: Richard C. Simpson, Edmund F. Lopresti, Rory A CooperAbstract:Independent mobility is important, but some Wheelchair users find operating existing manual or powered Wheelchairs difficult or impossible. Challenges to safe, independent Wheelchair use can result from various overlapping physical, perceptual, or cognitive symptoms of diagnoses such as spinal cord injury, cerebrovascular accident, multiple sclerosis, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, and cerebral palsy. Persons with different symptom combinations can benefit from different types of assistance from a smart Wheelchair and different Wheelchair form factors. The sizes of these user populations have been estimated based on published estimates of the number of individuals with each of several diseases who (1) also need a wheeled mobility device and (2) have specific symptoms that could interfere with mobility device use.
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Participatory design in the development of the Wheelchair convoy system
Journal of NeuroEngineering and Rehabilitation, 2008Co-Authors: Vinod Sharma, Rory A Cooper, Richard C. Simpson, Edmund F. Lopresti, Steve Hayashi, Casimir Mostowy, Joseph Olson, Jeremy Puhlman, Ed Konarski, Barry KerleyAbstract:Background In long-term care environments, residents who have severe mobility deficits are typically transported by having another person push the individual in a manual Wheelchair. This practice is inefficient and encourages staff to hurry to complete the process, thereby setting the stage for unsafe practices. Furthermore, the time involved in assembling multiple individuals with disabilities often deters their participation in group activities. Methods The Wheelchair Convoy System (WCS) is being developed to allow a single caregiver to move multiple individuals without removing them from their Wheelchairs. The WCS will consist of a processor, and a flexible cord linking each Wheelchair to the Wheelchair in front of it. A Participatory Design approach – in which several iterations of design, fabrication and evaluation are used to elicit feedback from users – was used. Results An iterative cycle of development and evaluation was followed through five prototypes of the device. The third and fourth prototypes were evaluated in unmanned field trials at J. Iverson Riddle Development Center. The prototypes were used to form a convoy of three Wheelchairs that successfully completed a series of navigation tasks. Conclusion A Participatory Design approach to the project allowed the design of the WCS to quickly evolve towards a viable solution. The design that emerged by the end of the fifth development cycle bore little resemblance to the initial design, but successfully met the project's design criteria. Additional development and testing is planned to further refine the system.
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The smart Wheelchair component system.
Journal of rehabilitation research and development, 2004Co-Authors: Richard C. Simpson, Edmund F. Lopresti, Steve Hayashi, Illah Nourbakhsh, David P. MillerAbstract:While the needs of many individuals with disabilities can be satisfied with power Wheelchairs, some members of the disabled community find it difficult or impossible to operate a standard power Wheelchair. To accommodate this population, several researchers have used technologies originally developed for mobile robots to create "smart Wheelchairs" that reduce the physical, perceptual, and cognitive skills necessary to operate a power Wheelchair. We are developing a Smart Wheelchair Component System (SWCS) that can be added to a variety of commercial power Wheelchairs with minimal modification. This paper describes the design of a prototype of the SWCS, which has been evaluated on Wheelchairs from four different manufacturers.
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The Hephaestus Smart Wheelchair system
IEEE transactions on neural systems and rehabilitation engineering : a publication of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society, 2002Co-Authors: Richard C. Simpson, D. Poirot, F. BaxterAbstract:The Hephaestus Smart Wheelchair System is envisioned as a series of components that clinicians and Wheelchair manufacturers will be able to attach to standard power Wheelchairs to convert them into "smart Wheelchairs." A prototype of the system has been developed and mounted on an Everest and Jennings Lancer2000 Wheelchair. The prototype bases its navigation assistance behavior on the behavior developed for the NavChair Assistive Wheelchair Navigation System, but the underlying hardware and software are being designed to facilitate commercialization. This paper describes our design goals for the Hephaestus system and discusses the current status of the system prototype as well as plans for future work.
Elaine Trefler - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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the relationship between pressure ulcer incidence and buttock seat cushion interface pressure in at risk elderly Wheelchair users
Archives of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, 2001Co-Authors: David M. Brienza, Mary Jo Geyer, Sheryl F Kelsey, Patricia Karg, Elaine TreflerAbstract:Abstract Brienza DM, Karg PE, Geyer MJ, Kelsey S, Trefler E. The relationship between pressure ulcer incidence and buttock-seat cushion interface pressure in at-risk elderly Wheelchair users. Arch Phys Med Rehabil 2001;82:529-33. Objective: To investigate the relation between pressure ulcer incidence and buttock-Wheelchair seat cushion interface pressure measurements. Design: Secondary analysis of data from a randomized clinical trial. Setting: Skilled nursing facility. Patients: Thirty-two elderly patients (age, ≥ 65yr), with Braden score ≤ 18 and Braden mobility and activity subscale score ≤ 5, who used Wheelchairs ≥ 6hr/d, were free of existing sitting-induced pressure ulcers, and weighed ≤ 250lb. Interventions: Generic foam seat cushion or pressure-reducing seat cushion. Main Outcome Measures: The incidence of sitting-induced pressure ulcers over a 1- to 12-month period was compared with pressure measured between patients' buttocks and Wheelchair seat cushions. A flexible pad with a 15 × 15 pressure sensor array was used to measure interface pressure. Results: Interface pressure measured on Wheelchair seat cushions was higher ( p ≤.01 for both peak pressure and average of highest 4 pressures) for patients who developed sitting-acquired pressure ulcers compared with those patients who did not. Conclusions: Results indicated that higher interface pressure measurements are associated with a higher incidence of sitting-acquired pressure ulcers for high-risk elderly people who use Wheelchairs. © 2001 by the American Congress of Rehabilitation Medicine and the American Academy of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation
Marnix Nuttin - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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User-adapted plan recognition and user-adapted shared control: A Bayesian approach to semi-autonomous Wheelchair driving
Autonomous Robots, 2008Co-Authors: Eric Demeester, Gerolf Vanacker, Hendrik Van brussel, Dirk Vanhooydonck, Alexander Huntemann, Marnix NuttinAbstract:Many elderly and physically impaired people experience difficulties when maneuvering a powered Wheelchair. In order to ease maneuvering, powered Wheelchairs have been equipped with sensors, additional computing power and intelligence by various research groups. This paper presents a Bayesian approach to maneuvering assistance for Wheelchair driving, which can be adapted to a specific user. The proposed framework is able to model and estimate even complex user intents, i.e. Wheelchair maneuvers that the driver has in mind. Furthermore, it explicitly takes the uncertainty on the user’s intent into account. Besides during intent estimation, user-specific properties and uncertainty on the user’s intent are incorporated when taking assistive actions, such that assistance is tailored to the user’s driving skills. This decision making is modeled as a greedy Partially Observable Markov Decision Process (POMDP). Benefits of this approach are shown using experimental results in simulation and on our Wheelchair platform Sharioto.
