Smartphones for smart wheelchairs

Individuals with limited ambulatory skills are at high risk for all physical inactivity-related diseases, such as coronary disease and diabetes. Increased physical activity can significantly lower risks of these diseases. However, quantifying recommendations for increased physical activity remain challenging for individuals who use wheelchairs for mobility. In this paper we introduce a smart wheelchair that utilizes a smartphone with its built-in sensors to capture and record physical activity of manual wheelchair users in both unstructured and structured environments. We develop algorithms for data acquisition and processing on the smartphone and implement them in an Android application called mWheelness. The application is successfully tested in laboratory and free-living experiments using several modern smartphones.