Engineering novel modular smart attachments to manual wheelchairs to improve mobility capabilities and performance

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Modern wheelchairs provide benefits to countless people, and this is only projected to increase in importance as the population ages. However, people with disabilities who use wheelchairs identify life satisfaction and quality of life by their level of autonomy and degree of access to full participation in all aspects of their community. Wheelchairs are currently lacking in this regard. Expressed another way - people are more limited by technology and environments than by their disabilities. Manual wheelchair (MWC) use is also associated with health issues, including detrimental: pain, skin issues, range of motion, spasticity, psychosocial limitations, and chronic upper limb injury. My research goal is to address these issues by enhancing the capabilities and performance of MWCs. With understanding end-user needs, wheelchair mobility industry trends, and using our rehabilitation engineering research capabilities, the long-term objective of this research program is to support the development of novel mobility products that easily integrate with manual wheelchairs and improve safety, performance and function. These products are referred to as “add-ons” and user-adjustable features, devices that show that wheelchair technology is most impactful when modular and dynamic. Thus, a base MWC is setup for typical movement and seating, but when needed or desired, components are adjusted “on the fly” (e.g. Elevation) or simply attached (e.g. Freewheel, SmartDrive) to enable greater function. The MWC then easily returns to its base form when the add-on is not needed anymore for that specific task. My research program is taking add-ons much further by investigating intelligent control and powerful modular attachments to develop Smart Mobility Attachments for all Terrains and Environments (SmartMATEs) for MWCs. Specific objectives to further the research towards potential products are to: characterize the effects add-ons have on safety, performance, and durability of MWCs; research advanced shared-control schemes for various user modes; develop methods to overcome obstacles and difficult terrains; and investigate more advanced add-ons and functions. Early-stage SmartMATEs prototypes have demonstrated capability on sandy beaches and snow, areas previously inaccessible to a MWC. Next steps include improving safety on rough terrains by adding smart stability control. Other projects will investigate functions to navigate curbs, climb stairs, and enable full standing mobility. Importantly, these improved devices need to be safe, independently usable (e.g., easy to attach), easily portable by car and plane, and quickly removable to restore base MWC function. Benefits are more accessible environments, safer mobility, better social interactions, and obviating a MWC user's need for a power chair (with its related detractions). Add-ons also have an existing path to market, thus improving the chances for this research to be translated to actual wheelchair users.