Development of a Real-Time Performance Measurement System for Wheelchair Treadmills

The project aims to improve the performance measurement system of wheelchair treadmills, especially for people with spinal cord injuries (SCI). Unlike most people, physically disabled persons need to exercise regularly to maintain a reasonable level of health and mobility, but they often experience challenges in using exercise equipment specifically tailored for them. A performance monitoring system was built based on an embedded programming system that consists of a microcontroller, a rotary encoder, and an OLED display to solve this problem. The system tracks important fitness parameters such as distance travel, speed, and time taken, and provides users with feedback. When the rotary encoder is actuated, the system passes this information to users in real time, significantly enhancing their ability to manage and control the exercise experience. The practical tests’ results indicated that the parameters measured by the system were by theoretical calculations. The average discrepancy for most measures was within 1-2%. The discrepancies noticed were due to lesser factors like the encoder resolution, mechanical errors, and different conditions of the treadmill, among others. The objective of these results is to present an innovative system that effectively and easily tracks the performance of a person with a disability using a wheelchair while exercising on a treadmill. For future work, calibration, advanced sensor integration, accuracy, and system functionality can be developed.