A knowledge-based system to suggest adaptive equipment for disabled drivers /
| Main Author: | |
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| Other Authors: | , , |
| Format: | Thesis Book |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
1989.
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | Link to OAKTrust copy |
| Abstract: | For physically disabled persons, a major objective is independent mobility. Driving a vehicle is of prime importance to disabled persons in achieving mobility. Frequently, various adaptive controls and equipment must be installed to provide disabled drivers access, entry and egress to the vehicle and the ability to drive the vehicle. It is often a difficult task to determine what specific controls and adaptive equipment are necessary for a disabled person to safely and successfully drive a vehicle. A therapist or driver evaluator must take into account the client's physical limitations such as restricted ranges of motion, weakness or absence of limbs and grip, lack of balance, and even complete loss of functionality in various limbs. This research involved developing a knowledge-based system to assist therapists, evaluators, and other rehabilitation professionals in the selection of adaptive equipment to customize vehicles for disabled drivers. Expert systems, or knowledge-based systems, are problem-solving tools intended to help people perform tasks. This knowledge-based system is intended to serve as a tool to assist rehabilitation professionals in determining the appropriate adaptive equipment for vehicle customization based on the specific needs of a physically disabled person. This tool will improve the process by which appropriately modified vehicles providing safe and dependable transportation are designed for drivers with disabilities. A prototype knowledge-based system was designed, built, and tested to demonstrate the feasibility and effectiveness of this approach to disabled driver assessment and adaptive equipment selection. Included in this prototype is a knowledge base of information important to the disabled driver evaluation domain, a logical questioning strategy to assess client information, and a simple, consistent, and effective user-interface that was designed through the use of Human Factors principles. In addition, a general methodology for expert systems evaluation was developed and used in this research. The effectiveness of the knowledge-based system was assessed in a two part evaluation focusing on both the performance and the usability of the system. Recommendations by experts in adaptive equipment selection were compared to recommendations made by driver evaluators using the knowledge-based system. A figure of merit for performance was calculated that indicates the degree of agreement between the users' recommendations and the experts' original recommendations. A usability measure was calculated based on users' and experts' ratings for several usability factors. The overall figure of merit for ten case studies indicated a certain amount of agreement between the two sets of recommendations. The overall usability measure indicated that the system demonstrates a high measure of usability. |
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| Item Description: | Typescript (photocopy). Vita. "Major subject: Industrial Engineering." |
| Physical Description: | xiii, 199 leaves : illustrations ; 29 cm |
| Bibliography: | Includes bibliographical references. |