Development of a driver model in powered wheelchair operation

Abstract

This paper describes the development of a driver model in a powered wheelchair operation. Existing methods have known problems such as straining the user. This is because improving wheelchairs adjustment requires too many trails and errors. Thus, we proposed solutions using computer simulation in this study. Computer simulation for the improvement of wheelchair adjustment needs three models: surroundings, driver and vehicle. Surroundings and vehicle models based on existing researches can be made, but not driver models for the computer simulation. To construct the model, we extracted the operation characteristics using a powered wheelchair simulator. From these results, we constructed the driver model as the first order preview driver model. In addition, a computer simulation was proposed for adjusting a powered wheelchair. © 2009 Springer Berlin Heidelberg.