Wheelchair Accessory Coupling and Positioning System
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Solution Overview
Problem
Users of powered wheelchairs face challenges in locating and manually orienting their vehicles to couple with accessories such as shopping carts or strollers, as these accessories are often located in various places, requiring users to search and physically align the wheelchair for coupling.
Innovation Solution
A wheelchair system equipped with a coupling mechanism, processing device, and non-transitory storage medium that determines the location of an accessory and automatically positions the wheelchair to couple with it via a communicatively coupled control unit and actuator, allowing independent alignment and attachment without user physical control.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Loss of time
If the user manually searches for and orients the wheelchair to locate accessories, then the user can find and couple to the accessory, but the user spends excessive time and physical effort searching and aligning the wheelchair
Solution Approach 1:
The wheelchair system performs self-positioning and self-orientation automatically using its control system to determine accessory location and navigate to it, eliminating the need for user manual searching and alignment while reducing time loss
Solution Approach 2:
The manual mechanical operation of steering and positioning the wheelchair by the user is replaced with an automated control system that uses sensors and processors to determine accessory location and autonomously navigate the wheelchair to couple with it
2Adaptability or versatility
If the accessory is located in various places in parking lots and shopping centers, then the accessory can be stored independently from the wheelchair, but the user must search extensively to find the accessory
Solution Approach 1:
The system uses communication between the wheelchair control system and the accessory to receive location data from the accessory, providing feedback that guides the wheelchair automatically to the accessory's position, making detection easy regardless of where the accessory is stored
Solution Approach 2:
The coupling mechanism is designed to work with various types of accessories (shopping carts, strollers, containers) that can be stored at different locations, providing universal compatibility across multiple accessory types and storage scenarios
3Ease of operation
If the user must manually orientate the wheelchair to couple to the accessory, then the coupling can be achieved, but the operation becomes complex and time-consuming
Solution Approach 1:
The wheelchair automatically orients itself to the accessory using its control system to calculate and execute the proper alignment, eliminating the need for complex manual orientation operations by the user
Solution Approach 2:
The control system acts as an intermediary between the user's request to couple and the physical coupling action, automatically handling the complex orientation and positioning tasks while the user simply initiates the process
Data Source
AI summary
Embodiments herein are directed to a wheelchair system that includes a wheelchair. The wheelchair includes a coupling mechanism, a processing device, and a non-transitory, processor-readable storage medium in communication with the processing device. The non-transitory, processor-readable storage medium includes one or more programming instructions that, when executed, cause the processing device to determine the location of an accessory, position the wheelchair with respect to the accessory, and couple the wheelchair to the accessory via the coupling mechanism. The positioning of the wheelchair is independent from a user physically controlling the positioning of the wheelchair with respect to the accessory.