Vestibular Feedback on a Virtual Reality Wheelchair Driving Simulator

Abstract

Autonomy and the ability to maintain social activities can be challenging for people with disabilities experiencing reduced mobility. In the case of disabilities that impact mobility, power wheelchairs can help such people retain or regain autonomy. Nonetheless, driving a power wheelchair is a complex task that requires a combination of cognitive, visual and visuo-spatial abilities. In practice, people need to pass prior ability tests and driving training before being prescribed a power wheelchair by their therapist. Still, conventional training in occupational therapy can be insufficient for some people with severe cognitive and/or visuo-spatial functions. As such, these people are often prevented from obtaining a power wheelchair prescription from their therapist due to safety concerns. In this context, driving simulators might be efficient and promising tools to provide alternative, adaptive, flexible, and safe training. In previous work, we proposed a Virtual Reality (VR) driving simulator integrating vestibular feedback to simulate wheelchair motion sensations. The performance and acceptability of a VR simulator rely on satisfying user Quality of Experience (QoE). Therefore, our simulator is designed to give the user a high Sense of Presence (SoP) and low Cybersickness. This paper presents a pilot study assessing the impact of the vestibular feedback provied on user QoE. Participants were asked to perform a driving task whilst in the simulator under two conditions: with and without vestibular feedback. User QoE is assessed through subjective questionnaires measuring user SoP and cybersickness. The results show that vestibular feedback activation increases SoP and decreases cybersickness. This study constitutes a mandatory step before clinical trials and, as such, only enrolled people without disabilities.

Simulation System of Electric-Powered Wheelchairs for Training Purposes

“…In contrast with other studies where wheelchair simulators do not try to reproduce reality with their VEs [ 20 ], or they reproduce scenarios that participants were not necessarily familiar with [ 19 , 23 ], the VE for this study attempts to recreate a realistic scenario and behavioral simulation of the virtual EPW close to the behaviors of the real one and its environment. It was of the authors’ interest to evaluate the system with the least disturbing variables involved.…”

“…Some researches opt to use regular Microsoft Xbox controllers like in [ 19 ] or even adapt them and their position to emulate a real wheelchair joystick controller [ 20 ], depending on their application. In this work, a real EPW’s joystick is used to increase realism, as done in [ 23 ].…”

“…In [ 23 ], a mechanical platform that provides vestibular feedback and haptic feedback was added to their simulator system in addition to their visual display showing the VE, and they reported having increased immersion and decreased cybersickness for users. This stage of our research, will not address vestibular feedback since the wheelchair simulator would need to incorporate a mobile platform that increases greatly the price and complexity of the simulator [ 13 ].…”

“…Moreover, an immersion exploration using a computer monitor, like in [ 30 ], was done in [ 31 ] with the Simcadrom, where a comparison was done between three displays (HMD, desktop screen, and projector) using IPQ and Simulator Sickness Questionnaire (SSQ) as in [ 23 ]. In this work, the simulator aims to offer the maximum immersion possible, using the HMD, or a projector.…”

A Novel Framework for Modelling Wheelchairs under the Realm of Internet-of-Things

“…While considering technology innovation for disabilities, those seven mobility tasks could serve as starting initial checklist to assess and thoroughly define wheelchair devices. Prior research studies have attempted to address and unpin only some of the above-mentioned tasks, for example, intelligent wheelchair for tennis [23], development of simulator and analysis tool for navigating in indoor locations [24], adaptive motion control for semi-autonomous wheelchairs [25], hands free control for wheelchair [26] and Voice Controllable Wheelchair [27]. In the last five years, there is an elevated trend to integrate intelligence systems into wheelchair control boards [28] to enable automatic or semiautomatic wheelchairs design.…”