App content
Learning to ride a power wheelchair and practicing correct behavior: What does the app offer and who benefits from it?
Correct operation of a power wheelchair is crucial for safety at home, in road traffic and during leisure activities. Training is very useful at the beginning. WheelSim wants to enable people with disabilities to receive such training safely and effortless in the protected environment of a simulation.
WheelSim offers extensive training options.
Drive
The following areas and tasks are available in the "Driving" area:
Practice park
You can move around freely in the practice park and try out different situations such as ramps, inclines and edges. There are no other road users here, such as pedestrians or cars.
Time trials
There are a total of four different courses to choose from, which are to be completed as accurately as possible. The courses are given by lines on the ground. The circuits must be completed three times and the time is measured. The focus is less on speed and more on accuracy. Touching or crossing the lines is assessed with additional "penalty time".
Tasks
In total, there are four assignments that train real-life situations and correct behavior on the road.
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Driving in a confined space in a flat
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Crossing the road at a crosswalk with pedestrian lights
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Cross the road at a crosswalk without pedestrian lights
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Crossing the road without a crosswalk
Free exploration
In free exploration, the city can be explored without assignments.
Learn
Correct behaviour in road traffic is a special challenge. WheelSim offers selected situations relevant to everyday life and learning videos to learn and train the correct behaviour step by step. The learning area is primarily aimed at younger users and people with learning disabilities. The correct behaviour, which is also necessary to successfully complete the four tasks in the "driving" area, is taught in training videos with easy-to-understand language - for example, how to steer the power wheelchair in the confined space of a flat or how to cross the road correctly at a crosswalk with pedestrian traffic lights.
Achievements
Practicing, i.e. diligently driving the power wheelchair and also watching the videos, is rewarded: badges are unlocked. This is intended to appeal to younger users in particular and motivate them to practice for longer.
Logs
This function is only available in the WheelSim Pro version. Each session is documented and all rides can be viewed repeatedly using the replay function.
Who is WheelSim for?
People of all ages who are to receive or have just received a power wheelchair can safely train the handling of a power wheelchair on the computer or in the virtual world. Physiotherapists and occupational therapists can use the app for power wheelchair training and also use the app to clarify various questions, e.g. to try out different input devices for control. Rehabilitation technicians and wheelchair providers are supported in assessing driving and traffic behaviour. This enables them to objectively judge their customers' ability to control a power wheelchair and to communicate with health insurance companies.
Use cases and versions
WheelSim VR is available in two versions, WheelSim Home and WheelSim Pro. Both versions can be used on the computer screen (2D). After connecting an Oculus VR headset, the rides take place in VR in both versions.