Last summer, the world\u2019s first fully-accessible water park opened in Texas.\u00a0The park is designed to let children of all abilities play and splash together. Morgan\u2019s Inspiration Island is a park where special needs children (and adults!) won\u2019t encounter attractions they can\u2019t access. The park was also the first location to use PneuChair wheelchairs.<\/p>\n
“What we’ve already seen is that it does work,” Gordon\u00a0Hartman, the creator of Morgan’s Inspiration Island, told CNN. “We’ve had children of severe special needs playing alongside other children in a water environment.”<\/p>\n
Designing a pneumatic wheelchair<\/h2>\n
Dr. Rory Cooper, the director of the HERL, and his team designed and built the PneuChair. The PneuChair runs on 4,500 psi compressed air, removing the need for batteries and electronics. The carbon-fiber air canisters power rotary piston motors to turn the wheels. In addition to being waterproof, it is significantly lighter than most powered wheelchairs. It also takes only 10 minutes to charge, whereas typical powered chairs require 8 hours.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/media-rd.s3.amazonaws.com\/embedded_image\/2017\/11\/wheelchair.jpg\")
<\/a>Image Credit: Michael Lain\/HERL<\/p><\/div><\/p>\n
<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
The chair is also less expensive to maintain and never needs a replacement battery. Brandon Daveler, the lead mechanical design engineer on the project, stated, “The PneuChair uses a simpler design without a lot of electronics and software. If something goes wrong, any of the components can be purchased at your local hardware store.”<\/p>\n
While the resulting design is simpler, the design process had to account for many factors. Key among them was the control of the unit as it was propelled by the compressed air.<\/p>\n
\u201cMATLAB<\/a> was used for several aspects of the PneuChair project,\u201d stated Cooper. \u201cInitially, we used MATLAB to simulate the control and to analyze test data within\u200e the laboratory. MATLAB was also used for visualization of the data<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n The New York Times<\/a> <\/em>recently profiled Morgan\u2019s Inspiration Island and the PneuChair. In the article, there\u2019s a video worth watching<\/a>, showing just how much joy inclusion can bring.<\/p>\n \u201cAll the things that people want to do \u2014 water parks, wave pools, beaches, wade into the water to go fishing, super-soaker fights in the front yard, water balloon fights \u2014 it reminds me just how much both water and fun have a part in our life and how much that\u2019s truly missed by people when they have to use powered mobility devices,\u201d Cooper told The New York Times.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m not even sure that the people that are now using the PneuChair in Morgan\u2019s Inspiration Island or that have tried the chair here in Pittsburgh realized how much they missed being able to do those things, or how much their family wished that they could be included in those things \u2014 until a solution was available,\u201d he continued. \u201cIt\u2019s not only about fun, it\u2019s actually about being part of the community, and about inclusion.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n HERL Director Dr. Rory Cooper (right) with U.S. Secretary of Veterans Affairs Dr. David Shulkin. Sec. Shulkin is riding the PneuScooter. Image Credit: Michael Lain\/HERL.<\/p><\/div><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Designing a waterproof powered wheelchair was the main goal, but the design’s resulting lighter weight and faster charging were also useful features. The lighter weight helps extend its range: It can travel 3 miles between charges. The reduced charging time makes it easier to maintain a fleet of powered chairs that are ready for use. The PneuChair is a great candidate for stores and eldercare facilities that must charge and maintain a fleet of chairs. A scooter version, seen above, is also being developed.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Q:\u00a0 What uses no batteries, runs on air, and is designed to let everyone splash around in a water park?\u201cIt\u2019s about inclusion\u201d<\/h2>\n
![](\"https:\/\/blogs.mathworks.com\/headlines\/files\/2018\/01\/shulkin-cooper-944x1024.jpg\")
<\/a>![\"\"](\"https:\/\/blogs.mathworks.com\/headlines\/files\/2018\/01\/pneu3.jpg\")
<\/div>\n
\nA:\u00a0 A waterproof, air-powered wheelchair called the PneuChair.
\nMark Villanueva, a Morgan\u2019s… read more >><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":138,"featured_media":1238,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.mathworks.com\/headlines\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1218"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.mathworks.com\/headlines\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.mathworks.com\/headlines\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.mathworks.com\/headlines\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/138"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.mathworks.com\/headlines\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1218"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.mathworks.com\/headlines\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1218\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3267,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.mathworks.com\/headlines\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1218\/revisions\/3267"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.mathworks.com\/headlines\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1238"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.mathworks.com\/headlines\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1218"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.mathworks.com\/headlines\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1218"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.mathworks.com\/headlines\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1218"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}