Esteve Hassan has a passion for helping people with physical challenges, including his aunt Doreen who lives in San Jose, Calif.
She uses an electric wheelchair to get around but has difficulty working the toggle switch that makes the chair move.
For years Hassan, a professor of electrical engineering at Mohawk College, has wanted to devise a system to help folks like his aunt who have limited hand and arm movement get around easier.
Just over a year ago he got his chance.
Aided by a $10,000 grant from the provincially funded Ontario Centres of Excellence and the help of a couple of electrical engineering students, Hassan oversaw the creation of a smart electric wheelchair operating system that can be activated with only a slight touch of a pad attached to the arm of the chair.
“This is exactly what we had in mind,” said Hassan, who noted they began testing a prototype last October. “It’s something different from any other wheelchair.”
Hassan said they were given an electric wheelchair to work on by Andy’s Radios and Electronics, their industry partner located in Mississauga.
But rather than trying to work within the chair’s existing operating system that is run from a toggle switch and is the intellectual property of the manufacturer, Pride Mobility Products, the Mohawk team decided to create a separate system that can be hooked into any wheelchair battery and run from a touch pad attached to the arm of the chair opposite to the toggle.
“We did all the design in parallel to their design,” said Hassan who added the user can switch back and forth between the pad and toggle systems.
As an added safety measure, they installed 10 pressure sensors to the seat, back and arms of the chair.
“They monitor you continuously when you use the wheelchair,” said Hassan who noted if a person does not move or has slouched forward for 3.2 minutes or has fallen out of the wheelchair the system will notify 9-1-1 or other health support via a Bluetooth connection to their smartphone and send a request for help along with the user’s location using global positioning system (GPS) information.
He said the 3.2 figure was determined after speaking to officials at Hamilton Health Sciences who told them a person could go from fainting to unconsciousness in three to four minutes.
Hassan said they are already looking at adding a Wi-Fi connection and other improvements during Phase 2 of the project that is dependent on further government funding.
Natalie Shearer, manager of industry and community engagement at IDEAWORKS located in the engineering wing of the Fennell campus, said it will be up to their industry partner to commercialize the new system.
“It’s really exciting for us to be able to work with industry and to deliver these kinds of solutions,” she said. “It’s really innovative, it’s really cool and we’re really proud of it.”
Andrey Panarin, owner of by Andy’s Radios and Electronics, said they are in discussions with the manufacturer about taking the developed prototype to the product level.
“The collaboration with Mohawk College in the smart wheelchair project was an excellent experience that produced outcomes that exceeded even our expectations,” he said. “This will definitely boost our future business plans to produce a new generation of electric wheelchairs.”
Esteve Hassan has a passion for helping people with physical challenges, including his aunt Doreen who lives in San Jose, Calif.
She uses an electric wheelchair to get around but has difficulty working the toggle switch that makes the chair move.
For years Hassan, a professor of electrical engineering at Mohawk College, has wanted to devise a system to help folks like his aunt who have limited hand and arm movement get around easier.
Just over a year ago he got his chance.
Aided by a $10,000 grant from the provincially funded Ontario Centres of Excellence and the help of a couple of electrical engineering students, Hassan oversaw the creation of a smart electric wheelchair operating system that can be activated with only a slight touch of a pad attached to the arm of the chair.
“This is exactly what we had in mind,” said Hassan, who noted they began testing a prototype last October. “It’s something different from any other wheelchair.”
Hassan said they were given an electric wheelchair to work on by Andy’s Radios and Electronics, their industry partner located in Mississauga.
But rather than trying to work within the chair’s existing operating system that is run from a toggle switch and is the intellectual property of the manufacturer, Pride Mobility Products, the Mohawk team decided to create a separate system that can be hooked into any wheelchair battery and run from a touch pad attached to the arm of the chair opposite to the toggle.
“We did all the design in parallel to their design,” said Hassan who added the user can switch back and forth between the pad and toggle systems.
As an added safety measure, they installed 10 pressure sensors to the seat, back and arms of the chair.
“They monitor you continuously when you use the wheelchair,” said Hassan who noted if a person does not move or has slouched forward for 3.2 minutes or has fallen out of the wheelchair the system will notify 9-1-1 or other health support via a Bluetooth connection to their smartphone and send a request for help along with the user’s location using global positioning system (GPS) information.
He said the 3.2 figure was determined after speaking to officials at Hamilton Health Sciences who told them a person could go from fainting to unconsciousness in three to four minutes.
Hassan said they are already looking at adding a Wi-Fi connection and other improvements during Phase 2 of the project that is dependent on further government funding.
Natalie Shearer, manager of industry and community engagement at IDEAWORKS located in the engineering wing of the Fennell campus, said it will be up to their industry partner to commercialize the new system.
“It’s really exciting for us to be able to work with industry and to deliver these kinds of solutions,” she said. “It’s really innovative, it’s really cool and we’re really proud of it.”
Andrey Panarin, owner of by Andy’s Radios and Electronics, said they are in discussions with the manufacturer about taking the developed prototype to the product level.
“The collaboration with Mohawk College in the smart wheelchair project was an excellent experience that produced outcomes that exceeded even our expectations,” he said. “This will definitely boost our future business plans to produce a new generation of electric wheelchairs.”
Esteve Hassan has a passion for helping people with physical challenges, including his aunt Doreen who lives in San Jose, Calif.
She uses an electric wheelchair to get around but has difficulty working the toggle switch that makes the chair move.
For years Hassan, a professor of electrical engineering at Mohawk College, has wanted to devise a system to help folks like his aunt who have limited hand and arm movement get around easier.
Just over a year ago he got his chance.
Aided by a $10,000 grant from the provincially funded Ontario Centres of Excellence and the help of a couple of electrical engineering students, Hassan oversaw the creation of a smart electric wheelchair operating system that can be activated with only a slight touch of a pad attached to the arm of the chair.
“This is exactly what we had in mind,” said Hassan, who noted they began testing a prototype last October. “It’s something different from any other wheelchair.”
Hassan said they were given an electric wheelchair to work on by Andy’s Radios and Electronics, their industry partner located in Mississauga.
But rather than trying to work within the chair’s existing operating system that is run from a toggle switch and is the intellectual property of the manufacturer, Pride Mobility Products, the Mohawk team decided to create a separate system that can be hooked into any wheelchair battery and run from a touch pad attached to the arm of the chair opposite to the toggle.
“We did all the design in parallel to their design,” said Hassan who added the user can switch back and forth between the pad and toggle systems.
As an added safety measure, they installed 10 pressure sensors to the seat, back and arms of the chair.
“They monitor you continuously when you use the wheelchair,” said Hassan who noted if a person does not move or has slouched forward for 3.2 minutes or has fallen out of the wheelchair the system will notify 9-1-1 or other health support via a Bluetooth connection to their smartphone and send a request for help along with the user’s location using global positioning system (GPS) information.
He said the 3.2 figure was determined after speaking to officials at Hamilton Health Sciences who told them a person could go from fainting to unconsciousness in three to four minutes.
Hassan said they are already looking at adding a Wi-Fi connection and other improvements during Phase 2 of the project that is dependent on further government funding.
Natalie Shearer, manager of industry and community engagement at IDEAWORKS located in the engineering wing of the Fennell campus, said it will be up to their industry partner to commercialize the new system.
“It’s really exciting for us to be able to work with industry and to deliver these kinds of solutions,” she said. “It’s really innovative, it’s really cool and we’re really proud of it.”
Andrey Panarin, owner of by Andy’s Radios and Electronics, said they are in discussions with the manufacturer about taking the developed prototype to the product level.
“The collaboration with Mohawk College in the smart wheelchair project was an excellent experience that produced outcomes that exceeded even our expectations,” he said. “This will definitely boost our future business plans to produce a new generation of electric wheelchairs.”