Applied Ergonomics • Vol 107
The effect of differences in powered wheelchair joystick shape on subjective and objective operability
October 2022 • Soichiro Koyama, Tsuyoshi Tatemoto, Nobuhiro Kumazawa, Shigeo Tanabe, Yuki Nakagawa, Yohei Otaka
Various-shaped joysticks steer electric-powered wheelchairs (EPWs); however, an operability evaluation has not been fully conducted. This study evaluated the subjective and objective operability of various-shaped joysticks in 22 younger and 22 older adults. Participants operated an EPW on an experimental course using nine different-shaped joysticks, before ranking each joystick by their operability (1 = best, 9 = worst) as a primary outcome. Movement time (MT) and driving accuracy (DA) were also measured. Despite …