Yo guys! research paper on wheelchair innovation

[Giov]

Hi everyone,

My name is Giovanni Bernabé and I'm a 24 years old master's student from Paris. I have a cerebral palsy that blocks me to have a complete mobility of my arms and my legs. Except this point, I'm totally autonomous on an electric wheelchair.
Regarding my "powerchair background" I bought a Phoenix, a A200 from Ottobock and a Storm 4 (4 poles engines) from Invacare. In spite of an utopian huge innovation revolution coming from current wheelchair companies, I now use a Storm 4 with brushless engines. I'm also a powerchair football player in first division in the team of Upsilon Châtenay Malabry.
Thanks to my studies, I had the opportunity to live one year in Madrid and four months in Brussels. But now I'm dealing with my master's research paper on wheelchair innovation.

My thesis has two goals. The first one is to find how we can accelerate wheelchair innovation. The second one is to find what are the barriers that prevents the inter-sectorial collaboration of the automotive industry and the wheelchair industry. This may sound unrealistic for some of you, but I deeply think that the wheelchair industry could benefit from the innovations and economies of scales made in the automotive industry.

Anyway, in order to complete my research, I have to gather qualitative data. So I have already interviewed people from Invacare, Sunrise Medical, Toyota and others; but I'd like to know if Brugerman would accept a 15 min Skype interview.

Brugerman, I saw on your website what you made and I want to tell you a big BRAVO! I think we can have a very good exchange on wheelchair innovation. The people that I have already interviewed told me for the majority that they can't use lithium batteries for safety reasons and other things that I don't really believe. An interview from you will give my very interesting data and could confirm my personal opinion on wheelchair innovation. Are you ok to do it?

Guys, do you know where I can buy Wizard on internet to change the default factory speed and acceleration settings made by Invacare ? I know that I can use a simple programer device, but I need Wizard to unleash the full potential of my powerchair.

Please excuse my frenglish and if there is spelling maniac in this forum, feel free to correct my spelling errors.

Giov.

[LROBBINS]

The Wizard software is a free download from Dynamic Controls http://dynamiccontrols.com/en/ (you may have to register as some kind of "professional" to get full download access, but you don't have to document that). The real barrier is that you will need a hardware dongle to use the software, and what you really need is the OEM-level dongle. One source is Rosstron Inc. (Dynamic distributor in the U.S.) http://www.rosstron.com/. You will also need a programming lead and, depending on the controller, an adapter. First read the Dynamic manuals to find the part numbers for what you need, then write to Rosstron and ask for a quotation. Knowing the exact part numbers will help convince suppliers that you are knowledgeable enough to use the OEM dongle. If they do not want to ship to France, I can give you the name of someone in the U.S. who could receive it and then send it on to you.

Others here have linked to another supplier in Taiwan, so search around on these forums to find the link, and others may have other suggestions. I lent my dongle and lead to someone (Irving) in the U.K. If he has finished with it, perhaps he could send it on to you. It is an old one - needs Centronics parallel port for the dongle and RS232 COM port for the lead - newer ones are USB-adapted.

Ciao,
Lenny

P.S. Your English is quite good; you're obviously not a native speaker, but we certainly will be able to understand what you say. Can't say the same for my command of French; never beyond two years desultory study in high school and that was >55 years ago.

[Giov]

Hey Lenny,

Thanks for helping me in my Wizard quest. Well, I'm using the REM 550 so I know that I need a XLR adapter. Do you know what are the other components needed?

Thanks,

Giov

[rover220]

Dwiz cable
Dwiz adapt
Dwd oem u

[Burgerman]

Brugerman, I saw on your website what you made and I want to tell you a big BRAVO! I think we can have a very good exchange on wheelchair innovation. The people that I have already interviewed told me for the majority that they can't use lithium batteries for safety reasons and other things that I don't really believe. An interview from you will give my very interesting data and could confirm my personal opinion on wheelchair innovation. Are you ok to do it?

By email. They think its unsafe because they dont understand batteries.