Muscle reflection computer model of people with disabilities in wheelchairs traveling in motor vehicles

Abstract

The purpose of the study is to express the motion of disabled people at a sudden stop and start by using a muscle reflection model. The model was composed of two rigid links and three masses and was characterized with muscle reflection defined by Hill's equation. A sudden stop and start experiment was performed to obtain human muscle parameters and to evaluate the model. Volunteer subjects including people with disabilities participated in the experiment. The subjects were placed in a wheelchair fixed to a carriage. The cervical angle, the trunk angle and the myoelectric potential were measured. This model simulated the motion and the myoelectric potential of each subject without/with seatbelt. The simulation results were similar to experimental results. The simulation results show that safety equipments are more important for people with disabilities than for people without disability.