Robot Helps Children Use Wheelchair

A robotic wheelchair that will help children learn how to use it is being developed by a team of researchers at the University of California at Irvine, USA.

The common method of wheelchair driving training is expensive and rather complicated, as it requires the hand-over-hand intervention of a skilled therapist.

That is why researchers writing in today's issue of BioMed Central's open access Journal of NeuroEngineering and Rehabilitation tested ROLY, the RObot-assisted Learning for Young drivers, in a group of children without disabilities, aged 4 to 9, as well as one 8 year-old child with cerebral palsy.

Laura Marchal-Crespo, who carried out the study along with the team of researchers said: “The conventional approach for powered wheelchair driver's training is expensive and labor-intense, typically requiring the hand-over-hand assistance of a skilled therapist.

“To lower the cost and improve accessibility to training, we have developed a robotic powered wheelchair system on which young children with a disability can safely develop driving skills at their own pace with minimum assistance.”

The testing technique consists in having the trainee chase a small robot along a line painted on the ground, and once the robot is caught it performs a dance and the chair plays a small tune.

This method has an advantage as the force feedback joystick used to steer the wheelchair can also provide physical assistance to the driver, at a level appropriate to their actual performance.

In both the non-disabled children trained with haptic guidance and in the child with a severe motor impairment case, learning was boosted by the joystick tactile assistance.

“Ultimately, we envision creating a training experience that compares favorably with the fun children experience with the best amusement park rides, but that facilitates the development of driving skill,” Marchal-Crespo said about the results of the testing.