Abstract
We have developed an instrumental system for evaluating wheelchair propulsion. The system consists of an 6-axis force sensor, a flexible joint angle sensor, a rotary encoder, and a data logger, which is built in a wheelchair of module type. We can evaluate wheelchair propulsions in actual situations based on the generated joint torques and the mechanical works to get unit travel distance, which are calculated from the measurements of the developed instrumental system. The evaluation result will be used for fitting a particular user to his own wheelchair. In this paper, the details of the instrumental system have been explained.
