Development of a Wheelchair CoG (Centre of Gravity) Evaluation Tool & Prototype

Wheelchair Center of Gravity Evaluation Tool Development – George Brown College’s Centre for Construction and Engineering Technologies have partnered with Toronto Rehab Seating Clinic to produce a Wheelchair Center of Gravity Evaluation Tool prototype. One of North America’s leading rehabilitation sciences centres, Toronto Rehab, is revolutionizing rehabilitation by helping people overcome the challenges of disabling injury, illness or age related health conditions to live active, healthier, more independent lives. This project involves the development of a system to provide real-time feedback to occupational therapists involved in wheelchair seating activities. Advancements in high performance wheelchair seating have provided numerous adjustment options and the therapist faces an increasingly difficult task to adjust the seating for comfort and stability. The proposed evaluation tool will allow the seating therapist to adjust the chair based on patient comfort, and use the evaluation to quantitatively assess the stability of the chair.