Eventos Anais de eventos
COBEM 2017
24th ABCM International Congress of Mechanical Engineering
The influence of speed and slope angle on wheelchair propulsion patterns: an optimal control study.
Submission Author:
Marko Ackermann , SP
Co-Authors:
Vinicius Ishimoto Cuerva, Marko Ackermann, Fabrizio Leonardi
Presenter: Marko Ackermann
doi://10.26678/ABCM.COBEM2017.COB17-1154
Abstract
The wheelchair is one of the most used assistive devices for people with locomotion disability. However, manual wheelchair propulsion is inefficient and can impose excessive loads on the upper limbs, increasing the risk of injury. The hand trajectory during the propulsion cycle may be a factor affecting efficiency and upper extremity loads. Previous investigations have assessed the strategies adopted by wheelchair users in different situations, but all of them were based on experimental analyses, which limited the number of investigated scenarios. Moreover, generally the experiments are performed on treadmills or rollers, which can artificially affect the adopted strategy. In this study, a multibody model of the wheelchair user system is used in combination with an optimal control formulation to generate predictive simulations of steady-state wheelchair propulsion and investigate the influence of different velocities and slope angles on hand trajectory. The results are compared to experimental data from the literature and provide insights on the mechanics of wheelchair propulsion and its influence on hand motion patterns.
Keywords
wheelchair propulsion, Optimal Control, hand motion patterns, propulsion techniques
