Adaptable virtual reality interface for powered wheelchair training of disabled children

Childhood development is directly related to being able to independently explore, manoeuvre and interact with one’s environment. However, severely disabled children having motor dysfunction often experience impeded motor development, and consequently lack independent mobility. This work relates to the development of the Virtual Environment Mobility Simulator (VEMS) to provide a simple and cost effective choice for powered wheelchair training and rehabilitation. The current area of interest is to study the effects of using real-time wheelchair motion as input for interacting with the home environment. This system provides a home environment delivered on a flat screen computer monitor, and offers simple tasks along with game elements to motivate the user. The widely varied nature of disability, however, requires adaptability of the virtual reality system to specific user training needs. In this paper we propose a conjoint analysis technique to analyse user behaviour, preferences and disability to gear towards the needs of providing an effective training.