An intelligent transport for living in dignity

Abstract

Purpose: The wheelchair is currently the most commonly used device to increase users' mobility, but it cannot assist them to stand or to transfer to another device. Although stand-up wheelchairs can help users to stand, they do not provide the function of transfer. While most of the standing frames provide a standing function, few provide the function of transfer and movement. On the other hand, a patient lift device may provide a transfer function, but not movement or standing. In short, there is no device currently on the market that can assist in standing, transfer, and movement. In other words, there is a huge demand to design such a device in order to improve the daily living quality of people who cannot stand and walk and to aid their caregivers. This paper presents the development of an intelligent transporter, i-Transport, for the disabled to live a freer daily life with dignity. Working closely with end users, this research aims to design an intelligent, lightweight, and inexpensive wheelchair with standing and transferring features. Method: After observation and in-depth interviews with patients at their own homes, we designed the i-Transport after a patent titled "assistance mechanism for assisting patients to stand up" 1. The i-Transport is a lightweight, electric wheelchair with a moving seat and handles for sitting and stand-up positions. It is equipped with a remote control for controlling back and forth movement at the user's convenience (Figure 8). Results & Discussion: The i-Transport was designed with an embedded health-monitoring system for tracking blood pressure and breathing conditions, allowing the disabled to stand, move around, and meet their demand for independence. The i-Transport is a multi-functional carrier (Figure 9) with features for lifting, shifting, standing, and moving, while also serving as a physiological monitor, thus assisting the disabled to undertake daily chores and have a freer and safer daily life without the need for body contact from caregivers, and hence, to live in dignity.