Advantages of Unstable Manual Wheelchair.

In this study, many test runs were conducted using experimental manual wheelchair on various floor surface conditions. In the result, operability of manual wheelchair would be improved by shifting the position of drive wheels forward.

Evaluation of Orientation Performance of Attention Patterns for Blind Person.

Tactile walking surface indicators (TWSIs) are installed on footpath to support independent travel for the blind. There are two types of TWSIs, attention patterns and guiding patterns. The attention pattern is usually installed at the crosswalk entrances. The direction of the crossing can be acquired by the row of the projection of the attention pattern through the soles of the shoes. In addition, truncated domes or cones of the attention pattern were arranged in a square grid, parallel or diagonal at 45 degrees to the principal direction of travel. However, the international standard organization (ISO) allows a wide-ranging size. In this research, the direction indicating performance was compared at the same intervals for the five diameters specified by the international standard. As a result of the experiment, the diagonal array does not indicate the direction of travel, but the projection row does indicate the direction of travel in the parallel array. When the attention pattern is installed at a crosswalk entrance, a parallel array should be installed in the direction of the crossing.

Visibility of LED Blocks Mounted on Crosswalk Boundaries for low Visual Capacity.

According to the WHO, about 80% of visually impaired persons in the world are with low visual capacity. It is considered that LVs' safe independent mobility will be improved as employing Tactile Walking Surface Indicators (TWSIs). In the night, guidelines for constructing warning blocks, a kind of tactile surface indicator, have not been well established. Therefore, crossing crosswalks is one of the most dangerous situations for visually impaired persons. We thus developed novel LED blocks that indicate crosswalk boundaries between sidewalks and roadways. This study addresses the LED blocks under various environmental illuminations and illumination from the opposite side of the crossing.

Walking Characteristics of Persons with Visually Impairment Crossing Intersections with Audible Pedestrian Signals.

The authors have been continuously researching tactile walking surface indicators and audible pedestrian signals used for crossing intersections. A pedestrian walks to the opposite side of the crosswalk using audible pedestrian signals. The position where the audible pedestrian signal is set up clearly influences the pedestrian's path. We performed an intersection crossing experiment with road noise for different positions where the audible pedestrian signal was set up. Vehicle road noise is thought to influence walking pedestrians. However, we could not clearly separate the difference of where the audible pedestrian signal was set up from the influence of the road noise. We therefore conducted the experiment with no road noise in the intersection to determine the difference of the position where the audible pedestrian signal was set up. The research results were compared with and without road noise to specify the road noise influence.

Development of Augmentative and Alternative Communication Assessment Tools for Patients with ALS.

ALS patients usually use augmentative and alternative communication tools to communicate with other people, but the assessment tools, including the selection of an input switch, are very difficult to operate. In this study, we developed a novel device to measure the physical ability of patients to operate the input switch with a push lever. The study focused on the amount of pushing and the power required to operate the input switch, and the effectiveness was verified.

Effect of Tire Pressure to Physical Workload at Operating a Manual Wheelchair.

It is often experienced that low tire pressure of the wheelchair not only increases running resistance, but also reduces parking brake performance. In this study, the required driving forces for different tire pressures were experimentally measured and evaluated. It was indicated from the result that the wheelchair with proper tire pressure could be run with less workload of wheelchair-user. Then it was also indicated that the wheelchair with a lower tire pressure needed more workload of wheelchair-user even on hard level surface.

Development of safety concept of electric wheelchair driving support system based on assessment of risk.

In this research, we pay attention to the electric wheelchair driving support. We look at the functional safety of the electric wheelchair. Based on intrinsically-safe electric wheelchair, we add driving support system to increase functional safety. The driving support system processes the environmental information sensor data including the 3D laser Range scanner and biological monitoring sensor data including electrooculogram, and assists avoidance of dangerous objects. We have developed safety concept that based on assessment of risk.