SMARTWheels: development and testing of a system for measuring manual wheelchair propulsion dynamics

The purpose of this project was to develop a system for dynamically sensing pushrim propulsion forces and torques and to collect kinetic data with the device. A system was developed to detect the forces and torques applied to the wheelchair pushrim, record, store, and process the measured data, and display the kinetic information for analysis. Ten adults, including four male wheelchair users, three ambulatory men, and three ambulatory women, pushed a wheelchair with the SMARTWheel on a dynamometer while their kinematics were videotaped. The kinetic data collected with our wheel were correlated with stick figure representations of digitized kinematic data obtained through video analysis. The close agreement between the kinetic results and the Kinematic results provided a temporal validation of the ability of the wheel to detect forces and torques applied to the wheelchair pushrim. The recorded forces and torques were in agreement with previously reported magnitudes.