TY  - UNPB
ID  - pittir6412
UR  - http://d-scholarship-dev.library.pitt.edu/6412/
A1  - Brown, Karl Walter
TI  - Electric Powered Wheelchair Control with a Variable Compliance Joystick: Improving Control of Mobility Devices for Individuals with Multiple Sclerosis
Y1  - 2007/04/24/
N2  - While technological developments over the past several decades have greatly enhanced the lives of people with mobility impairments, between 10 and 40 percent of clients who desired powered mobility found it very difficult to operate electric powered wheelchairs (EPWs) safely because of sensory impairments, poor motor function, or cognitive deficits [1]. The aim of this research is to improve control of personalized mobility for those with multiple sclerosis (MS) by examining isometric and movement joystick interfaces with customizable algorithms. A variable compliance joystick (VCJ) with tuning software was designed and built to provide a single platform for isometric and movement, or compliant, interfaces with enhanced programming capabilities.The VCJ with three different algorithms (basic, personalized, personalized with fatigue adaptation) was evaluated with four subjects with MS (mean age 58.7±5.0 yrs; years since diagnosis 28.2±16.1 yrs) in a virtual environment. A randomized, two-group, repeated-measures experimental design was used, where two subjects used the VCJ in isometric mode and two in compliant mode.While still too early to draw conclusions about the performance of the joystick interfaces and algorithms, the VCJ was a functional platform for collecting information. Inspection of the data shows that the learning curve may be long for this system. Also, while subjects may have low trial times, low times could be related to more deviation from the target path.
AV  - public
KW  - control enhancer; control interface; fatigue; human-machine interface; isometric joystick; position sensing joystick; simulation; tremor; validation; virtual reality; weighted Fourier linear combiner; WFLC
ER  -