Simpson Richard, LoPresti Edmund, Hayashi Steve, Guo Songfeng, Ding Dan, Ammer William, Sharma Vinod, Cooper Rory
Department of Rehabilitation Science and Technology, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, USA.
J Neuroeng Rehabil. 2005 Oct 3;2:30. doi: 10.1186/1743-0003-2-30.
Almost 10% of all individuals who are legally blind also have a mobility impairment. The majority of these individuals are dependent on others for mobility. The Smart Power Assistance Module (SPAM) for manual wheelchairs is being developed to provide independent mobility for this population.
A prototype of the SPAM has been developed using Yamaha JWII power assist hubs, sonar and infrared rangefinders, and a microprocessor. The prototype limits the user to moving straight forward, straight backward, or turning in place, and increases the resistance of the wheels based on the proximity of obstacles. The result is haptic feedback to the user regarding the environment surrounding the wheelchair.
The prototype has been evaluated with four blindfolded able-bodied users and one individual who is blind but not mobility impaired. For all individuals, the prototype reduced the number of collisions on a simple navigation task.
The prototype demonstrates the feasibility of providing navigation assistance to manual wheelchair users, but several shortcomings of the system were identified to be addressed in a second generation prototype.
在所有法定失明的人中，近10%的人还存在行动障碍。这些人中的大多数在行动方面依赖他人。正在研发用于手动轮椅的智能动力辅助模块（SPAM），以为这一人群提供独立行动能力。
已使用雅马哈JWII动力辅助轮毂、声纳和红外测距仪以及微处理器开发出SPAM的一个原型。该原型限制用户只能向前直线移动、向后直线移动或原地转弯，并根据障碍物的接近程度增加车轮的阻力。结果是为用户提供有关轮椅周围环境的触觉反馈。
已对四名蒙眼的身体健全用户和一名失明但无行动障碍的个体进行了该原型的评估。对于所有个体，该原型在一项简单导航任务中减少了碰撞次数。
该原型证明了为手动轮椅用户提供导航辅助的可行性，但该系统的几个缺点已被确定，将在第二代原型中加以解决。
