Robert Huang, Danielle Vaithilingam, Jackelyn Navar, Ivan Vuong, Yurie Hong, Nyeli Kratz, Rachel Li, Ashley Koenig
Over 4,000 pediatric patients with cerebral palsy or a traumatic brain injury struggle to control one of their arms and one or both of their legs. Since these children cannot walk, they are confined to wheelchairs and may experience severe physical and mental health consequences. While patients could alleviate these issues by using an assistive standing mobility device, current options are not feasible for them. We are designing and building a novel, mechanical, one-arm-drive (OAD) mobile stander to provide this underserved patient population with an affordable means of independent standing mobility. We created a system using a single drive rim and a lever to shift the motion of the stander between forward-backward linear translation and swivel-in-place rotation. Testing was conducted using static stress analysis and motion studies in SolidWorks to measure the force required to propel the stander across various terrains, the maximum drifting degree due to gear misalignment, and the stander’s stability as quantified by tilting angle and force. Simulations showed that our stander design can safely hold a user upright and function with one-arm propulsion, but the drift exceeds the maximum allowed value. This result indicates that the propulsion mechanism must be improved to increase the stander’s efficiency and reliability. With these improvements, we will be able to create a solution that increases mobility for users, allowing for increased participation in daily activities and greatly improving their quality of life.