Open AccessNarrative designed proposals of mechanical or electro-mechanical optimization to the current wheelchairs used by people with severe locomotion restraints
Author(s) -
Aura Spînu,
Vladimir Cardei,
Valeriu Avramescu,
Ioana Andone,
Aurelia Romila,
Aurelian Anghelescu,
Mihail Tiberiu Avramescu,
Ana Maria Bumbea,
Elena Valentina Ionescu,
Vlad Ciobanu,
Cristina Daia,
Gelu Onose
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
industria textilă
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.281
H-Index - 14
ISSN - 1222-5347
DOI - 10.35530/it.071.04.1830
Subject(s) - wheelchair , modular design , autonomy , computer science , mechatronics , flexibility (engineering) , exoskeleton , disabled people , quality (philosophy) , personal mobility , wearable computer , simulation , physical medicine and rehabilitation , artificial intelligence , medicine , philosophy , statistics , mathematics , epistemology , cerebral palsy , world wide web , political science , law , embedded system , operating system , computer network
The field of mechatronic/robotic wearable exoskeletons, specifically those designated for assistance/rehabilitation insevere neuro-/locomotor disabling conditions in the lower limbs, is considered to have a great potential for radicallychanging the harsh condition of wheelchairs users, by restoring their defining human traits: bipedal, vertical, stance andgait. But even the most advanced such complex devices, are not yet effectively able to largely replace the wheelchairs.Therefore, until the overall complete wheelchairs’ substitutes, will meet, in this purpose, all the necessary relatedrequirements, we have determined, and accordingly, designed – from a double perspective: of professionals and of (a)consumer – a series of necessary and rather accessible/feasible, consistent: mechanical and electro-mechanicalimprovements, to the current common type of wheelchairs, in order to improve the global functioning, autonomy andconsequently, the quality of life in the needing people, with severe mobility restraints. These, for now, narrativelyinnovative concepts and specifically designed, practical/technological-constructive solutions, target 10 main kinds ofbeneficial outcomes, i.e. a decalogue and their derivatives to be expected (most of them previously imagined by us butnot completely designed until now, two of them already achieved but which need updating and other four entirely new),that could result in an “all-in-one” product paradigm which, to our knowledge, is not available at present. This model ofwheelchair we propose is, at the same time, modular, so a certain consumer can purchase/ be offered only his/her owncase-specific needed optimization components of it