Intelligent wheelchair driving: A comparative study of cerebral palsy adults with distinct boccia experience

Abstract

An electronic wheelchair facilitates the autonomy and independence of a person, however specific cognitive, sensorial and perceptual skills are needed to conduct the assistive technology. These skills are also inherent to the sport boccia. Thus, the aim of this study is to understand the relationship between the experience of the participant in driving a wheelchair in relation to their autonomy and independence and also examine the practice of boccia in relation to the cognitive skills and performance in driving an intelligent wheelchair using a simulator. It was performed an evaluation of 28 participants, 6 of whom had no experience driving an electronic wheelchair and 22 had experience, 15 practice boccia and 13 did not practice this type of adapted sports. In the collection of data was tested three interfaces command of a smart wheelchair in a simulator. It was showed a good performance of the participants with experience in using electronic wheelchair and practitioners of boccia. It was also possible to observe that the autonomous and independent participants showed good results. © Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2014.