IMPROVING CERVICAL AND BREAST CANCER SCREENING FOR WOMEN WITH INTELLECTUAL DISABILITIES

This project develops a robotic powered wheelchair (WC) system on which individuals with severe disabilities can safely learn and develop driving skills at their own pace with minimum assistance from a therapist. A powered WC is equipped with a webcam (simple video camera) to achieve a self-steering function along a training course, and a force-feedback joystick to implement an algorithm that can demonstrate (through intuitive movement and force of the joystick itself) exemplary control to follow the course, while systematically modulating the strength and sensitivity of such haptic demonstration. This method gradually exposes the individual to the dynamics of a normal powered WC, in an analogous fashion to bicycle training wheels. The idea is to let the individual learn from the experience of making errors repeatedly and safely in a structured environment, while reducing demands on the supervising therapist.