Citation

Morère Y, Bourhis G, Cosnuau K, Guilmois G, Rumilly E, Blangy E. Assist. Technol. 2018; ePub(ePub): 1-11.

Affiliation

Centre de Médecine Physique de Réadaptation pour Enfants , IRR de Nancy , Flavigny sur Moselle , France.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2018, Rehabilitation Engineering and Assistive Technology Society of North America, Publisher Informa - Taylor and Francis Group)

DOI

10.1080/10400435.2018.1503204

PMID

30085901

Abstract

The powered wheelchair (PW) has become an essential mobility assistive technology for people with motor disabilities. A critical step involved in maximizing the end-user experience is evaluating individual functional abilities to identify driving difficulties PW users experience during their daily activities. There are certain limitations, however, associated with on-road driving assessments, such as the practical concern of safety. And while extracting quantitative parameters such as joystick control or trajectory tracking from real wheelchairs is feasible, it requires modifications to the PW hardware architecture and, in some cases, to the physical test environment. Using powered wheelchair simulation for driving analysis offers flexibility for safely evaluating the individual's driving performance in a variable environment and situations ranging in difficulty. Additionally, it makes it possible to measure numerous variables involved in the driving process, which can then be used for computing driving performance indicators. The main objectives of this pilot study were to assess PW users' outdoor driving abilities (functional motor skills, smoothness of control, subjective driving behavior) to study how the simulator can improve outdoor driving task performance, and to define new objective criteria for evaluating the overall driving process. The study took place in the Centre of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation for Children of Flavigny sur Moselle (France) and involved a group of 12 children and young adults diagnosed with cerebral palsy. Simulations were conducted using ViEW (Virtual Electrical Wheelchair), a 3D wheelchair simulator designed in our laboratory. In this context, we describe here an experiment to assess how driving training using a simulator can potentially improve everyday driving skills. A customized virtual environment was designed to immerse the user in a life-like driving experience and the simulation was divided into seven levels of increasing difficulty. We defined a functional evaluation rating scale for PW driving performance adapted to outdoor navigation behavior, which occupational therapists involved in the study used to assess the subjects' qualitative performance. In parallel, we used the data collected on the simulator to define driving skills indicators. The driving simulator as a training tool proved to be a promising method for teaching driving behavior in a safe environment and beneficial to users' driving performance. The acquired skills during simulations were transferable to on-road wheelchair driving (hereto referred to as real driving). The participants' performance indicators computed from motion trajectories and joystick control analysis (distance, smoothness/jerkiness, mean amplitude of control) produced positive results. Based on our findings, we believe that computed performance indicators can be a valuable decision-making tool for occupational therapists evaluating their subjects' driving abilities.>.

Language: en

Keywords

Driving learning; driving performance indicators; powered wheelchair simulator