IndieTrainer: Enabling Children with Cerebral Palsy to Receive Gamified Power Mobility Training in their Own Manual Wheelchairs

在美国，每年约有10，000名儿童出生时患有脑瘫（CP），其中30%将继续 行走能力有限或没有行走能力。对于严重残疾的儿童，独立行动能力往往是 没有电动轮椅的帮助是不可能的不幸的是，操作一个 电动轮椅可能很难掌握，目前的培训方法是时间和劳动 密集。因此，许多儿童被排除在电动轮椅训练之外， 无法实现独立移动。为了满足这一需求，我们开发了KWIC培训师 允许治疗师使用儿童自己的手动轮椅提供电动轮椅训练， 并包括基于视频游戏的训练模式。尽管取得了初步成功，但临床医生指出， 局限性：1）它只包括一个单一的访问方法，2）它缺乏某些可用性功能（例如，快速 设置时间、可操作性、训练参数选择等）这将是成功的 融入临床实践。治疗师还指出，视频游戏模式需要 扩大到适应儿童在早期阶段的学习能力的流动性。因此，我们建议在 这直接到第二阶段SBIR完成开发的改进，商业上可行的动力 轮椅训练器，建立在我们以前的成功与KWIC教练。为了实现这一目标，我们 已经与探索中心合作，该中心开发了一种创新的动力移动设备， 名为indieGoTM，可以临时将手动轮椅转换为电动轮椅， 没有安装时间。我们将扩大和完善indieGoTM系统， 为KWIC培训师开发的基于视频游戏的培训系统，从而创造了一个有效的新 我们称之为IndieTrainer的轮椅训练系统。我们第二阶段项目的具体目标是： 目的1）修改indieGo电子设备，使其能够与视频游戏程序进行通信，并允许 要使用的其他访问方法（例如，专门设计的操纵杆手柄、开关或磁头阵列）; 目的2）开发一种改进的基于视频游戏的渐进式轮椅训练计划， 安全和培训环境;目标3）完成IndieTrainer的开放标签、单臂临床试验， CP患者（n = 25）。我们的假设是，IndieTrainer系统将促进更容易获得 和有效的力量移动训练，让更多的孩子提高他们的功能移动性， 提高他们的独立性。在这个项目结束时，我们将完成初步开发， 新型电动轮椅训练系统的功效测试。如果成功，IndieTrainer将成为 第一个临床系统，提供安全，游戏化和高度可及的电动轮椅技能培训， 儿童自己的手动轮椅，终于让残疾更严重的儿童得到有效的 提高自主性，增强独立性。

In the United States, around 10,000 children are born each year with cerebral palsy (CP), and 30% will go on to have limited or no walking ability. For children with severe disabilities, independent mobility is often impossible without the aid of a powered wheelchair. Unfortunately, the skills needed to operate a powered wheelchair can be difficult to master and the current approach to training is both time and labor intensive. Consequently, many children are excluded from powered wheelchair training and are thus prevented from achieving independent mobility. To address this need, we developed the KWIC Trainer that allowed therapists to provide powered wheelchair training using a child’s own manual wheelchair and included a videogame-based training mode. Despite its initial success, clinicians noted two key limitations: 1) it only included a single access method, and 2) it lacked certain usability features (e.g. quick setup time, maneuverability, training parameter selection, etc.) that would be required for successful integration into clinical practice. Therapists also noted that the videogaming mode needed to be expanded to accommodate children at the earlier stages of learning power mobility. Thus, we propose in this Direct-to-Phase II SBIR to complete development of an improved, commercially viable powered wheelchair trainer that builds on our previous success with the KWIC Trainer. To accomplish this goal, we have partnered with the Center for Discovery, who has developed an innovative power mobility device, called indieGoTM, that temporarily converts a manual wheelchair into a powered wheelchair with almost no setup time. We will expand and refine the indieGoTM system to incorporate an improved version of the videogame-based training system developed for the KWIC Trainer, thus creating an effective new wheelchair training system that we call the IndieTrainer. Our specific aims for this Phase II project are to: Aim 1) Modify the indieGo electronics to enable communication with the videogame program and allow additional access methods to be used (e.g. specially designed joystick handles, switches, or head arrays); Aim 2) Develop an improved videogame-based progressive wheelchair training program with adjustable safety and training settings; Aim 3) Complete an open-label, single-arm clinical trial of the IndieTrainer in individuals with CP (n = 25). Our hypothesis is that the IndieTrainer system will facilitate more accessible and effective power mobility training, allowing more children to improve their functional mobility and increase their independence. At the end of this project, we will have completed initial development and efficacy testing of a novel powered wheelchair training system. If successful, the IndieTrainer will be the first clinical system to provide safe, gamified, and highly accessible powered wheelchair skills training in a child’s own manual wheelchair, finally allowing children with more severe disabilities to receive effective mobility training and increase their independence.