Sharma Vinod, Simpson Richard, Lopresti Edmund, Schmeler Mark
Department of Bioengineering, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA 15206, USA.
J Rehabil Res Dev. 2010;47(9):877-90. doi: 10.1682/jrrd.2010.02.0012.
Some individuals with disabilities are denied powered mobility because they lack the visual, motor, and/or cognitive skills required to safely operate a power wheelchair. The Drive-Safe System (DSS) is an add-on, distributed, shared-control navigation assistance system for power wheelchairs intended to provide safe and independent mobility to such individuals. The DSS is a human-machine system in which the user is responsible for high-level control of the wheelchair, such as choosing the destination, path planning, and basic navigation actions, while the DSS overrides unsafe maneuvers through autonomous collision avoidance, wall following, and door crossing. In this project, the DSS was clinically evaluated in a controlled laboratory with blindfolded, nondisabled individuals. Further, these individuals' performance with the DSS was compared with standard cane use for navigation assistance by people with visual impairments. Results indicate that compared with a cane, the DSS significantly reduced the number of collisions. Users rated the DSS favorably even though they took longer to navigate the same obstacle course than they would have using a standard long cane. Participants experienced less physical demand, effort, and frustration when using the DSS as compared with a cane. These findings suggest that the DSS can be a viable powered mobility solution for wheelchair users with visual impairments.
一些残疾人士因缺乏安全操作电动轮椅所需的视觉、运动和/或认知技能而无法使用电动移动设备。Drive-Safe系统（DSS）是一种用于电动轮椅的附加式、分布式、共享控制导航辅助系统，旨在为这些人士提供安全和独立的移动能力。DSS是一种人机系统，用户负责对轮椅进行高级控制，如选择目的地、路径规划和基本导航操作，而DSS则通过自主避撞、沿墙行驶和过门等功能来避免不安全的操作。在该项目中，DSS在一个受控实验室中对蒙眼的非残疾人士进行了临床评估。此外，还将这些人使用DSS的表现与视力障碍者使用标准手杖进行导航辅助的表现进行了比较。结果表明，与手杖相比，DSS显著减少了碰撞次数。尽管用户在通过相同的障碍路线时比使用标准长手杖花费的时间更长，但他们对DSS的评价很高。与使用手杖相比，参与者在使用DSS时身体需求、努力程度和挫败感都更低。这些发现表明，DSS对于视力障碍的轮椅使用者来说可能是一种可行的电动移动解决方案。
