iWheelchair

Wheelchair has become a necessity for many elderly or nonambulatory people to overcome the mobility limitations. However, a typical wheelchair is far from enough to improve their quality of life. To provide a better solution to chairbound individuals, PolyU has integrated a series of technologies into an intelligent system called “iWheelchair”, which can be easily operated with a tablet computer. The technologies employed in the system include physiological status monitoring and alert system, environment control system for home devices control, and advanced fabric technologies for sensing and maintaining personal hygiene. iWheelchair enables chairbound individuals to be more independent in their daily life and encourages them to take part in social activities. A demo system has been installed at a centre of Hong Kong Federation of Handicapped Youth for trial by their members.