Citation

Cooper RA, Spaeth DM, Jones DK, Boninger ML, Fitzgerald SG, Guo S. Med. Eng. Phys. 2002; 24(10): 703-708.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2002, Institute of Physics and Engineering in Medicine, Publisher Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

10.1016/S1350-4533(02)00111-X

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

There are limited interface options for electric powered wheelchairs, which results in the inability of some individuals to drive independently. In addition, the development of new interface technologies will necessitate the development of alternative training methods. This study compares a conventional position sensing joystick to a novel isometric joystick during a driving task in a virtual environment and a real environment. The results revealed that there were few differences in task completion time and root-mean-square error (RMSE) between the two types of joysticks. There were significant correlations between the RMSE in the virtual environment and the real environment for both types of joysticks. The data indicate that performance in the virtual environment was representative of driving ability in the real environment, and the isometric joystick performed comparably to the position sensing joystick. 2002 IPEM. Published by Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.

Language: en

Keywords

Driver training; Wheelchairs; Biomedical engineering; Electric power factor