P3: Wheelchair Innovation

Purpose and Objectives: We propose to develop a smart power wheelchair, whereby the term “smart” means a power wheelchair whose motion is mediated by a computerized system which is aware of the environment and can collaborate with the user to achieve mobility goals and avoid dangerous situations. Smart wheelchair prototypes will be constructed in order to obtain feedback from a broad range of stakeholders during the project (Project I, Phase 3) and serve as a starting point for future commercialization efforts and additional studies.

This project has four Phases, including integrated feedback loops for a successful design process:

Phase 1: Work with Project I to determine, via focus groups, how the current obstacle avoidance system could be improved, and what other needs the smart wheelchair might serve. At the same time, we will study adaptation of the current system to outdoor and non-institutional settings, add more responsive vocal prompting, and choose a common software platform for future design.

Phase 2: 
Choose additional features identified through the focus groups, determine how to achieve them, and create prototypes for subsequent focus groups and testing.

Phase 3: Using an iterative design process, refine existing features, add new ones as appropriate, and collect feedback on prototypes through collaboration with focus groups and observational studies in Project I.

Phase 4: Deliver a final set of capstone prototypes which could be used in future studies and commercialization efforts.

 

Bikram Adhikari’s Masters Thesis:

A Single Subject Participatory Action Design Method for Powered Wheelchairs Providing Automated Back-in Parking Assistance to Cognitively Impaired Older Adults: A pilot study


Book Chapters

Oishi, M, Mitchell, I, & Van der Loos, HF. Machiel (Eds.) Design and Use of Assistive Technology: Social, Technical, Ethical, and Economic Challenges. Volume 1, 2010. Features chapters from other CanWheel investigators such as Jan Miller-Polgar (UWO) and Gary Birch (UBC).


Published

Rushton PW, Mortenson WB, Viswanathan P, Wang RH, Miller WC, Clarke LH, CanWheel Research Team (2016). Intelligent Power Wheelchair Use In Long-Term Care: Potential Users’ Experiences And Perceptions. Disability and Rehabilitation: Assistive Technology. 1-7.

Viswanathan, P., Zambalde, E.P., Foley, G., Bell, J.L., Wang, R.H., Adhikari, B., Mackworth, A.K., Mihailidis, A., Miller, W.C., &Mitchell, I.M. (2016). Intelligent Wheelchair Control Strategies for Older Adults with Cognitive Impairment: User Attitudes, Needs, and Preferences. Autonomous Robots. 1-16.

Viswanathan P., Little, J. J., Mackworth, A. K., & Mihailidis (2012). An intelligent powered wheelchair for users with dementia: Case studies with NOAH (Navigation and Obstacle Avoidance Help). 2012 AAAI Fall Symposium Series. 42-47.

How, T. V., Wang, R. H., & Mihailidis, A. (2013). Evaluation of an intelligent wheelchair system for older adults with cognitive impairments. Journal of Neuroengineering and Rehabilitation, 10(1), 1-16.

Mitchell, I. M., Kaynama, S., Chen, M., & Oishi, M. (2013). Safety preserving control synthesis for sampled data systems. Nonlinear Analysis: Hybrid Systems. 10, 63-82

Maidens, J. N., Kaynama, S., Mitchell, I. M., Oishi, M. M., & Dumont, G. A. (2013). Lagrangian methods for approximating the viability kernel in high-dimensional systems. Automatica, 49(7),  2017-2029


Local Conference

How TV, Wang RH, Mihailidis A. Clinical evaluation of the intelligent wheelchair system. Rehabilitation Engineering and Assistive Technology Society of North America (RESNA), Toronto, ON, June 5 — 8, 2011. Winner of Student Scientific Paper Competition at RESNA Conference.


National Conference

Viswanathan P, Alimi P, Little J, Mackworth A, Mihailidis A. Navigation assistance for intelligent wheelchairs. The Rehabilitation Engineering and Assistive Technology Society of North America (RESNA), Toronto, ON, June 5 — 8, 2011.

Viswanathan P, Little JJ, Mackworth AK, and Mihailidis A. Evaluation of the Navigation and Obstacle Avoidance Help (NOAH) system for Wheelchair Users with Cognitive Impairment (Abstract and Oral Presentation), in Proceedings of Alzheimer’s Association International Conference (AAIC), Vancouver, BC, 2012.

Viswanathan P, Mackworth A, Little J, Hoey J, Mihailidis A. NOAH for Wheelchair Users with Cognitive Impairment: Navigation and Obstacle Avoidance Help. Proceedings of the Alzheimer’s Association International Conference (AAIC); 2012; Vancouver, BC.

Lo, J., Pham, P., Viswanathan, P., & Mihailidis, A. Intelligent Wheelchairs: Training & Assessment. Poster session presented at the Canadian Association of Occupational Therapists Annual Conference 2014, Fredericton, NB, May 2014.

Foley G, Zamblade E, Viswanathan P, Mihailidis A. A table-docking feature for intelligent powered wheelchairs: Defining user needs. Poster presentation at Toronto Rehabilitation Research Day; 2014; Toronto, ON.


International Conference

Oishi, M, Cheng, A, Bibalan, PT, & Mitchell, I. Building a smart wheelchair on a flexible software platform, in RESNA International Conference on Technology and Aging, June 2011.

Oishi, M, Bibalan, PT, & Mitchell, I. Modeling and control of a powered wheelchair: Wall-following around a corner with infrared, in Proceedings of the Canadian Congress of Applied Mechanics, June 2011.

Viswanathan P, Little JJ, Mackworth AK, Mihailidis A.  Adaptive navigation assistance for visually-impaired wheelchair users. International Conference on Vision Systems (ICVS), Inria Sophia Antipolis, France, September 20 — 22, 2011.

Viswanathan P, Little JJ, Mackworth AK, Mihailidis A. Adaptive navigation assistance for visually-impaired wheelchair users. New and Emerging Technologies in Assistive Robotics – IROS 2011, San Francisco, CA, September 26, 2011.

Viswanathan P, Little JJ, Mackworth AK, Mihailidis A. Navigation and Obstacle Avoidance Help (NOAH) for older adults with dementia: A pilot study. The ACM Assets Conference, Dundee, Scotland, October 24 ­– 26, 2011.

Kaynama S, Maidens J, Oishi M, Mitchell IM, Dumont GA. Computing the viability kernel using maximal reachable sets. Proceedings. Hybrid Systems: Computation and Control, Beijing, China, April 17 – 19, 2012, pp. 5563.

Mitchell IM, Chen M, Oishi M. Ensuring safety of nonlinear sampled data systems through reachability. Proceedings of the 2012 IFAC Conference on Analysis and Design of Hybrid Systems.

Viswanathan P, Little JJ, Mackworth AK, and Mihailidis A. “An Intelligent Powered Wheelchair for Users with Dementia: Case Studies with NOAH (Navigation and Obstacle Avoidance Help)” (Full Paper and Oral Presentation), in Proceedings of the AAAI Fall Symposium on AI for Gerontechnology, Arlington, Virginia, 2012.

Kairy D, Archambault P, Rushton PW, Pituch E, El Fathi A, Torkia C, Stone S, Routhier F, Forget R, Demers L, Pineau J, Gourdeau R. Users’ Perspectives of Intelligent Power Wheelchair Use. RESNA Annual Conference. 2013.

Kim, B, Pineau, J. Maximum Mean Discrepancy Imitation Learning. Robotics: Science and Systems (RSS) Berlin, Germany, 2013.

Viswanathan P, Little JJ, Mackworth AK, How T-V, Wang RH, and Mihailidis A. Intelligent Wheelchairs for Cognitively-Impaired Older Adults in Long-Term Care: A Review (Poster Presentation), In Proceedings of RESNA 2013 Annual Conference, Bellevue, Washington, 2013.

Wang RH, Viswanathan P, Czarnuch S, Boger J, Nejat G, and Mihailidis A. (2013). Developing advanced assistive technologies for older adults with dementia: Lessons learned (Poster Presentation). In Proceedings of RESNA 2013, June 22 – 24, Bellevue, USA.

Viswanathan P, Wang RH and Mihailidis M. Wizard-of-Oz and Mixed-Methods Studies to Inform Intelligent Wheelchair Design for Older Adults with Dementia (Oral Presentation). In Proceedings of 12th European AAATE Conference, Vilamoura, Portugal, 19 – 22 September, 2013.

Mitchell I, Viswanathan P, Adhikari B, Rothfels E, & Mackworth AK. Shared Control policies for Safe Wheelchair Navigation of Elderly Adults with Cognitive and Mobility Impairments: Designing a Wizard of Oz Study (Full Paper and Oral Presentation). In Proceedings of 2014 American Control Conference, Portland, Oregon, June 4-6 2014.

Dewancker I, Borisoff JF, Jin BT, & Mitchell I. Mobisense: Lifespace tracking and activity monitoring on mobile
phones (Oral Presentation). In Proceedings of RESNA 2014, Indianapolis, Indiana, June 11-15 2014.

Rushton PW, Mortenson WB, Viswanathan P, Wang R, Hurd Clarke L, CanWheel Research Team. Intelligent Power Wheelchairs for residents in long-term care facilities: Potential users’ experiences and perceptions. Proceedings of the Rehabilitation Engineering and Assistive Technology Society of North America (RESNA); 2014 June 11-15; Indianapolis, Indiana.

Smith EM, Miller WC, Mortenson WB, Mihailidis A, Viswanathan P, Lo J, Pham P. Interface design for shared control tele-operated power wheelchair technology. Poster presented at the 8th International Convention on Rehabilitation Engineering and Assistive Technology; 2014 August; Singapore.

P. Viswanathan, J. L. Bell, R. H. Wang, B. Adhikari, A. K. Mackworth, A. Mihailidis, W. C. Miller, I. M. Mitchell (2014, submitted) A Wizard-of-Oz Intelligent Wheelchair Study with Cognitively-Impaired Older Adults: Attitudes toward User Control, in IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS) Workshop on Assistive Robotics for Individuals with Disabilities: HRI Issues and Beyond, 2014 Sept 14-18, Chicago, IL.

Viswanathan P, Zambalde EP, Foley G, Bell JL, Wang RH, Adhikari B, Mackworth AK, Mihailidis A, Miller WC, Mitchell IM. Intelligent Wheelchair Control Strategies for Older Adults with Cognitive Impairment: User Attitudes, Needs, and Preferences. Submitted to the European Simulation and Modelling Conference (ESM); 2015 Oct 26-28, Leicester, UK.

Mitchell I. Smart Wheelchairs: Why they are (and why they aren’t) almost here. Plenary presented at the 32nd International Seating Symposium. 2016 March 1-4, Vancouver, B.C.

Rushton P, Mortenson B, Viswanathan P, Wang R, Clarke LH, and Miller WC. Long-Term Care Facility Residents’ Initial Experiences and Perceptions of Intelligent Power Wheelchairs. Open paper presented at the 32nd International Seating Symposium. 2016 March 1-4, Vancouver, B.C.

Viswanathan P, Wang R, Sutcliffe A, Kenyon L, Foley G, and Miller WC. Smart Wheelchairs in Assessment and Training: Findings from a Consensus Workshop. Instructional Session presented at the 32nd International Seating Symposium. Vancouver, B.C., 2016 March 1-4.

Foley G, Viswanathan P, Zambalde EP, Mihailidis A. Analyzing Drivers’ Affect for the Design of Intelligent Wheelchair Technology. Presentation at the Pervasive Health Conference; 2016 May 16-19, Cancun, Mexico.

Viswanathan P, Wang RH, Sutcliffe A, Kenyon L, Foley G, Smith E, Miller WC, SWAT participants. State of the Field: Findings from the 2014 Smart Wheelchairs in Assessment and Training (SWAT) Workshop. Instructional session at the 5th European Seating Symposium; 2016 June; Dublin, Ireland.

McDonald R, Rushton P, Giesbrecht E, Kirby L, Viswanathan P, Casey J. Outcome measurement in wheelchair seating, positioning and mobility. Instructional session at the 5th European Seating Symposium; 2016 June; Dublin, Ireland.

Viswanathan P, Wang RH, Holloway C, Black R, Harris J. Assistive Technology Development and Translation into Clinical Practice. Workshop at Promoting Access to Assistive Technology RESNA/NCART 2016 Conference; 2016 July; Arlington, VA.


Symposia

Kim B, Mihailidis A, Mitchell IM, TalebiFard P, Viswanathan P, Wang RH. Collaboratively Controlled Intelligent Robotic Wheelchairs: Capabilities and User Interfaces. Workshop at the Annual RESNA Conference, Seattle, WA, June 20 – 24, 2013.

Viswanathan P, Wang R, Urdiales Garcia C, Mandel C, Routhier F, Arthanat S, Moffatt K. Evaluation of Intelligent Powered Wheelchairs. Workshop at ICORR Conference, Seattle, WA, June 24 – 26, 2013.

Gerdzhev M, Pineau J, Mitchell IM, Viswanathan P, Foley G. On the Use of Modular Software and Hardware for Designing Wheelchair Robots. Submitted to the AAAI 2016 Spring Symposium; 2016 Mar 21-23; Palo Alto, California, USA.

 

//]]>