Joystick grip of electric wheelchair for the purpose of suppressing involuntary movement in tension-athetosis-type cerebral palsy

Abstract

In Japan, the number of people who have difficulty walking has been increasing with the rise in the aging population and that of people with physical disabilities. Individuals with athetosis-type cerebral palsy must use electric wheelchairs due to abnormal walking. However, since they have problems with fine motor control, including the occurrence of involuntary movements and difficulty maintaining posture, they have difficulty intentionally controlling their hand movements. Therefore, they cannot operate a joystick, even if they desire to use electric wheelchairs, and there are risks of accidents. In this study, by considering the arch structure of hand, we developed a new joystick grip that enables the suppression of involuntary movement. We evaluated our proposed grip by comparing running stability with a conventional grip, and demonstrated the effectiveness of proposed method.