SBIR Phase II: A portable, powered lift to instantly increase independence of all manual wheelchair users

小企业创新研究（SBIR）第二阶段的更广泛的影响/商业潜力是改善轮椅使用者的流动性。 美国有超过250万轮椅使用者。该项目将开发一种电子售后附加配件，以在5秒内将手动轮椅使用者的身高增加到18英寸或更高。新的轮椅升降机（WL）将提高他们的生活质量，提高他们独立进行日常生活活动（喂食、洗澡、穿衣）和日常生活工具活动（交通、购物、烹饪、洗衣和家务）的能力。该解决方案将取代昂贵的家庭改造（2万美元），并将减少在外部环境中的帮助需求，例如伸手去拿货架上的物品，赋予用户权力。该计划将弥合残疾人与健全人之间的差距，增加轮椅使用者在劳动力中的参与率（目前仅为20%），并提供更多就业选择。同样，轮椅升降机将为雇主提供一种有效的方式来支持残疾工人，并降低成本，以适应工作环境，提供合理的便利。这一小型企业创新研究第二阶段项目旨在生成轮椅升降机（WL）的最终功能原型，为最终用户的可用性测试做好准备。第二阶段项目扩展了先前在满足重量、提升最大载荷和Ascension时间等主要设计规范的原型上的工作，降低了与项目相关的最重大技术挑战的风险。拟议的活动将使硬件和电子开发的系统工程以及下一代原型能够进行测试和监管审批。原型将在质量管理体系下生产，并建立工业制造流程。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并且通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II is to improve the mobility of wheelchair users. There are more than 2.5 M wheelchair users in the US. This project will develop an electronic aftermarket add-on accessory to increase manual wheelchair users’ height up to 18 inches or more in 5 seconds. The new wheelchair lift (WL) will increase their Quality of Life and their ability to independently perform activities of daily living (feeding, bathing, dressing) and instrumental activities of daily living (transportation, shopping, cooking, doing laundry, and housework). The solution will replace expensive home retrofitting ($20 K) and will reduce the need for help in outside settings, such as reaching for items on shelves, empowering the users. The WL will bridge the gap between the disabled and the able-bodied population, providing a means to increase wheelchair users’ participation in the labor force (currently only 20%) and enabling more employment options. Similarly, the WL will offer employers an effective way to support workers with disabilities and reduce costs to adapt the work environment to provide reasonable accommodations.This Small Business Innovation Research Phase II project seeks to generate a final functional prototype of the wheelchair lift (WL) ready for usability tests with end-users. The Phase II project extends prior work on a prototype satisfying the major design specifications of weight, lift maximum load, and time of ascension, de-risking the most significant technological challenges associated with the project. The proposed activities will enable systems engineering of hardware and electronics development and the next generation prototype for testing and regulatory clearance. The prototype will be produced under Quality Management Systems and an industrial manufacturing process will be established.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.