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The aim of this project is to accurately measure the power exerted by a person on the wheels of a wheelchair during an activity.
Handisport - Connected wheels to optimize performance
Context
As part of the 2024 Olympic Games, the French government has mobilized France's scientific forces with its Priority Research Program - Very High Performance Sport, which includes the Paraperf project "Optimizing Paralympic performance: from identification to winning the medal".
Coordinated by INSEP in collaboration with numerous federations and universities from all over France, the main mission of this project is to propel French Paralympic athletes onto the podium. To achieve this, three axes have been identified:
- Performance trajectories and estimation of potential;
- Couple Athlete - Wheelchair;
- Environment and pathway of the athlete
The connected wheels project, developed by the experts at HIPE HUMAN LAB (University of Aix-Marseille), is part of this second axis.
The project in brief
The aim of this project is to accurately measure the power exerted by a person on the wheels of a wheelchair during an activity.
A first prototype has been produced, incorporating an electronic measuring device on each wheel. One wheel is fitted with two optical torque sensors to measure speed and direction of rotation via an encoder wheel attached to the wheelchair, and a torque sensor integrated into the wheel axle to measure the forces exerted on the wheelchair handrail. Once the data has been collected via Bluetooth using a specially designed smartphone application, the experts combine the speed and force measurements to obtain the power exerted by the wheelchair user. Laboratory tests confirmed the prototype's reliability by comparing the data collected with that of a wheelchair ergometer.
Development prospects
Once this prototype has been validated, many new fields of research will open up, both for top-level athletes and for non-athlete users. However, each project will require specific adaptations, particularly for disabled sports where the wheels of the wheelchairs may vary depending on the activity.
Ultimately, the aim is to make this tool accessible to coaches and athletes so that they can use it autonomously to optimize their training.
Beyond the sporting arena, this tool could also be used by other structures, for example to measure the power required by a disabled person to move around town, in comparison with an able-bodied person. This would open up new avenues of research and improve accessibility and mobility for wheelchair users.