Distance traveled by people using Permobil power wheelchairs based on large data analytics

Area of Science:

• Rehabilitation Engineering
• Biomedical Data Science
• Mobility Device Technology

Background:

• Data logging in manual and power wheelchairs (PWCs) measures performance and user behavior.
• Previous studies on PWC daily distance traveled used small samples and limited timeframes.
• Permobil equipped PWCs with connectivity for continuous usage data collection.

Purpose of the Study:

• Analyze a large dataset of Permobil PWC usage in 2022 to determine mean daily distance traveled.
• Compare daily distance and usage days across five PWC models.
• Compare daily distance and usage days between Group 3 and Group 4 PWC classifications.

Main Methods:

• Utilized a dataset of 3,058 Permobil PWCs across five models for the entire year of 2022.
• Analyzed a reduced dataset of 2,615 wheelchairs for Group 3 and Group 4 comparisons.
• Calculated mean daily distance traveled and number of use days per year.

Main Results:

• PWC users traveled an average of 1,365 meters per day.
• Group 4 PWCs demonstrated significantly greater mean daily distance traveled compared to Group 3 PWCs.
• PWCs were utilized on average 301 days annually.

Conclusions:

• Study findings provide insights into PWC usage patterns across different models and classifications.
• Data can inform proactive maintenance, repair, and replacement strategies based on actual device usage.
• This research highlights the value of large-scale data logging for understanding mobility device utilization.