An Electric-Assist Off-Road Wheelchair

这项研究的目标是为身体残疾的人打开户外的大门。我们计划将电力辅助推进系统集成到现有的手动驱动的越野轮椅中，使截瘫和四肢瘫痪的“骑手”能够像健全人的徒步旅行者、越野跑者和山地自行车手一样探索和享受具有挑战性的地形。该提案将主要为电动自行车（e-bike）市场开发的新兴技术转移到服务相对不足的辅助移动空间。我们将开发一种新型、创新的电动辅助越野轮椅的原型，它将满足残疾人社区户外探险的需求，也可以用于山地救援。它将通过扩大残疾骑手及其助手可到达的地形类型，大大提高现有手动轮椅的能力。拟议的研究将鼓励工业界、学术界、环保主义者、冒险家和残疾人社区之间的积极合作。这将提高加拿大作为一个重视穷人生活质量的国家的声誉。

The goal of this research is to open the great outdoors to people with physical disabilities. We plan to integratean electric-assist propulsion system into an existing manually-driven, off-road wheelchair to make it possiblefor paraplegic and quadriplegic "riders" to explore and enjoy challenging terrain, in the way that able-bodiedhikers, trail runners, and mountain bikers do. This proposal transposes emergent technologies developedprimarily for the electric bicycle (e-bike) market into the comparatively underserved assistive mobility space.We will develop prototypes for a new and innovative electric-assist, off-road wheelchair that will serve theunmet need for outdoor adventuring within the disabled community, and could also be used in mountainrescue. It will significantly enhance the capability of the existing, manually-driven wheelchair by expanding thetypes of terrain accessible to disabled riders and their assistants. The proposed research will encourage activecollaboration between industry, academia, environmentalists, adventurers, and the disabled community. It willenhances Canada's reputation for being a nation that takes seriously the quality of the lives of its less fortunatecitizens.