Smart Wheelchairs: State-of-the-field and Future Directions

Thursday, October 30, 2025

8:15 AM - 9:15 AM

Location: ROOM: Continental A Ballroom DIRECTIONS Lobby Level: From the Main Elevator Bank, proceed right toward the Fed Ex office. At the Fed Ex Office, turn right and proceed past the ACRM registration desk to the Continental Foyer and Ballroom.

CE: OT and PT credit only

Presenter(s)

Pooja Viswanathan, PhD (she/her/hers)

Assistant Professor, CEO
Western University, Braze Mobility Inc.
Toronto, ON, Canada
Terrence Ho (he/him/his)

Head of Education
Braze Mobility Inc.
Toronto, ON, Canada

Slides Slides

According to a study, 20% of powered mobility device users experience at least one major accident within a year; 11% of these users are hospitalized (Edwards and McCluskey, 2010). It is estimated that up to 91% of wheelchair users can benefit from "smart" wheelchair technology (Simpson, 2008). This session will highlight commercial examples and clinical evidence related to "smart" wheelchair technologies, including a user study that explored rear visibility of wheelchair users with and without blind spot sensors (Pellichero et al.,2021). A live demo of various types of "smart" wheelchair technology (monitoring, alerting, and intervening) will be presented. A discussion will be conducted on higher levels of automation, drawing from literature on both "smart" wheelchairs and the automotive industry to explore usability, safety, and ethical considerations as smart wheelchair technologies continue to be developed.

Learning Objectives:

Describe at least 3 benefits of alerting technology and scenarios where they are used.
Compare alerting technology with intervening technology, discussing benefits and disadvantages of each.
Discuss the ethical and safety implications of increasing automation in wheelchairs.