Usability evaluation of a novel robotic power wheelchair for indoor and outdoor navigation

Publication date: Available online 25 August 2018

Source: Archives of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation

Author(s): Jorge L. Candiotti, Deepan C. Kamaraj, Brandon Daveler, Cheng-Shiu Chung, Garrett G. Grindle, Rosemarie Cooper, Rory A. Cooper

Abstract

Objective

To compare the Mobility Enhancement roBotic (MEBot) wheelchair's capabilities with commercial Electric Powered Wheelchairs (EPWs) by performing a systematic usability evaluation.

Design

Usability in terms of effectiveness, efficacy, and satisfaction was evaluated using quantitative measures. A semi-structured interview was employed to gather feedback about the users' interaction with MEBot.

Setting

Lab testing of EPW driving performance with two devices in a controlled setting simulating common EPW driving tasks.

Participants

A convenience sample of twelve expert EPW users (9 male, 3 female) with an average age of 54.7 (± 10.9) years and 16.3 (± 8.1) years of EPW driving experience.

Interventions

Not Applicable

Main Outcome Measure(s)

Powered Mobility Clinical Driving Assessment (PMCDA); Satisfaction Questionnaire; National Aeronautics and Space Administration's Task Load Index (NASA-TLX).

Results

Participants were able to perform significantly higher number of tasks (p=.004), with significantly higher scores in both the Adequacy-Efficacy (p=.005) and the safety (p=.005) domains of the PMCDA while using MEBot over curbs and cross-slopes. However, participants reported significantly higher mental demand (p=.005) while using MEBot to navigate curbs and cross-slopes due to MEBot's complexity to perform its mobility applications which increased user's cognitive demands.

Conclusions

Overall, this usability evaluation demonstrated that MEBot is a promising EPW device to use in indoors and outdoors with architectural barriers such as curbs and cross-slopes. Current design limitations were highlighted with recommendations for further improvement.

Graphical abstract

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