Active Cadence Braking (ACB) for Safer Recreational Rehabilitation

Recreational rehabilitation is a proven way to provide a therapeutic experience and enhancement of quality of life for individuals with disabilities. The Mountain Chair is a device developed for individuals with high level traumatic spinal cord injuries (HL-SCI) to provide them with a system comparable to a downhill mountain bike. This system provides individuals with a chance to experience an extreme sport that otherwise would be impossible. One of the many goals of these programs is to enable individuals by providing the maximum amount of control of the system while maintaining the highest level of safety. Integrated control system design requires careful considerations of safety and an individual's ability to interface with the system. The authors developed an Active Cadence Braking (ACB) system to improve the safety and usability of the Mountain Chair. This project represents a collaborative effort between the Department of Mechanical Engineering Ergonomics and Safety Lab and the Therapeutic Recreation and Independent Lifestyle (TRAILS) program at the School of Medicine. The innovation of this project is a proportional, smart braking system to improve safety and redundancy for the current Mountain Chair device. A remote input device translates the patient's wrist rotation into an equivalent braking force. The system builds on traditional ABS to provide improved stopping distance while maintaining controllability for the patient.