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Development and Evaluation of a Low-cost Wheelchair Simulator for the Haptic Rendering of Virtual Road Conditions

Published: 11 July 2022 Publication History

Abstract

Many streets and buildings are not accessible for wheelchair users, which impedes a major challenge for their mobility. Often, such challenges can be considered during the planning stage, which is why it is important to include this user group in the planning process. Ideally, these planning efforts should also be made visually and haptically navigable using Virtual Reality (VR) technology to allow for better imagination, accurate conclusions, and awareness of wheelchair users. This work optimizes previous approaches so that different roadway conditions can be made haptically perceptible. The proposed prototype provides a non-contact and adjustable brake for simulating inclined planes, which can be adjusted depending on personal and environmental parameters. In addition, it can simulate roads such as cobblestones using a tactile transducer. The individually optimized components were combined into a complete VR system and integrated into a virtual environment for evaluation. The qualitative and quantitative results showed that realistic simulation is possible, but further development steps towards holistic and dissemination-capable hardware and software are needed. To this end, our contribution aims to improve the long-term involvement of wheelchair users in planning processes and increase awareness of their mobility situation.

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Cited By

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  • (2023)DrivingVibe: Enhancing VR Driving Experience using Inertia-based Vibrotactile Feedback around the HeadProceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction10.1145/36042537:MHCI(1-22)Online publication date: 13-Sep-2023
  • (2023)Haptic Interface Design for a Novel Wheelchair Simulator using Linear Time-Varying MPC Framework2023 IEEE/ASME International Conference on Advanced Intelligent Mechatronics (AIM)10.1109/AIM46323.2023.10196197(172-178)Online publication date: 28-Jun-2023

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          cover image ACM Other conferences
          PETRA '22: Proceedings of the 15th International Conference on PErvasive Technologies Related to Assistive Environments
          June 2022
          704 pages
          ISBN:9781450396318
          DOI:10.1145/3529190
          Permission to make digital or hard copies of all or part of this work for personal or classroom use is granted without fee provided that copies are not made or distributed for profit or commercial advantage and that copies bear this notice and the full citation on the first page. Copyrights for components of this work owned by others than the author(s) must be honored. Abstracting with credit is permitted. To copy otherwise, or republish, to post on servers or to redistribute to lists, requires prior specific permission and/or a fee. Request permissions from [email protected].

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          Publication History

          Published: 11 July 2022

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          Author Tags

          1. Wheelchair
          2. accessibility
          3. haptic feedback
          4. inclusion
          5. simulator
          6. virtual reality

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          View all
          • (2023)DrivingVibe: Enhancing VR Driving Experience using Inertia-based Vibrotactile Feedback around the HeadProceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction10.1145/36042537:MHCI(1-22)Online publication date: 13-Sep-2023
          • (2023)Haptic Interface Design for a Novel Wheelchair Simulator using Linear Time-Varying MPC Framework2023 IEEE/ASME International Conference on Advanced Intelligent Mechatronics (AIM)10.1109/AIM46323.2023.10196197(172-178)Online publication date: 28-Jun-2023

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