Evaluation of the Hephaestus Smart Wheelchair System
Richard Simpson1, Daniel Poirot2, Mary Francis Baxter3
1TRACLabs, Houston, TX; 2WindRiver Systems, Houston, TX;
3Texas Woman's University, Houston, TX
Abstract
Hephaestus, the Greek god of fire, craftsmen and smiths was the only
Olympian with a disability. Hephaestus was injured when his father,
Zeus, flung him off Mount Olympus for siding against Zeus in a dispute
with Hephaestus' mother, Hera. To compensate for his disability
Hephaestus built two robots, one silver and one gold, to transport
him. The Hephaestus Smart Wheelchair System is envisioned as a series
of components that clinicians and wheelchair manufacturers will be
able to attach to standard power wheelchairs to convert them into
"Smart Wheelchairs." This paper describes a prototype of the system
and presents the results from preliminary user trials involving both
able-bodied and disabled subjects.
Full Paper
Last modified: Thu Jan 21 10:38:39 PST 1999