A Smart Wheelchair with Anthropometric and Ergonomic Characteristics

The mobility of the elderly and physically disabled is a major concern of the society. A wheelchair is the most acceptable user-friendly device used by an elderly and disabled person which helps a lot for their mobility solutions. There are numerous design solutions available for wheelchairs and most are as per the user's requirements. Some better solutions are also available as per the anthropometric designs database. New technology like automation, speech recognition, voice assistive, remotely operated, etc. also makes the product (wheelchair) more comfortable and convenient. The wheelchair's unpleasant seat, height of the seat, and backrest adjustability issues make the wheelchair uncomfortable for a patient. Another problem associated with a wheelchair is defecation, especially when a lower limb injured person uses thewheelchair and there is no caretaker/nursing staff available to assist the patient. So, there is a requirement for some advanced featured wheelchair which has the facility of height adjustment, backrest adjustment, and commode unit. This paper presents an ergonomically designed wheelchair that has the facility of a commode assistive device. The objective of the work is to design and develop a wheelchair with ergonomic and anthropometric characteristics that gives comfort to a user. A commode assembly is integrated within the wheelchair for defecation where the movement of the commode unit is controlled by a linear actuator. The present invention is of great importance for society people, especially old aged and disabled persons. The current work concluded the future vision of wheelchair design research and how to serve disabled people.