A head orientated wheelchair for people with disabilities.
OBJECTIVE
Most electric wheelchairs available on the market are joystick-controlled making people with hand or arm disabilities unable to control the wheelchairs easily. This study proposes a new head-orientated wheelchair design for people with disabilities.


METHODS
This study involves a tilt sensor module fitted onto the operator's headgear that will sense head movements used to control the wheelchair's direction and speed. This system includes: the tilt sensor module, the signal processing circuit and a main controller.


RESULTS
The average times required for completing experiments by seven volunteers using joystick-controlled and the newly developed wheelchairs were recorded. It was revealed that the difference in average operating time for the two wheelchairs were statistically insignificant (p>0.05).


CONCLUSIONS
The wheelchair developed in this study, although not absolutely superior to the joystick-controlled method, should still provide a better alternative for people with disabilities unsuited to traditional input devices.
Chen
Y-L
YL
Department of Electronic Engineering, Hwa-Hsia College of Technology and Commerce, Taiwan. allen@cc.hwh.edu.tw
Chen
S-C
SC
Chen
W-L
WL
Lin
J-F
JF
D000328:Adult; D006233:Persons with Disabilities / Q000534:rehabilitation; D004867:Equipment Design; D004869:Equipment Safety; D005260:Female; D006257:Head; D006801:Humans; D015601:Injury Severity Score; D008297:Male; D013677:Medical Laboratory Science; D008875:Middle Aged; D017060:Patient Satisfaction; D011782:Quadriplegia / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D013119:Spinal Cord Injuries / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D014910:Wheelchairs