Developing a Dynamic Wheelchair Using the Design Structure Matrix Method

Abstract

Involuntary extensor thrusts, experienced by wheelchair users with cerebral palsy, can cause injuries due to unexpected impacts with the wheelchair. Consequently, these unexpected motions can hurt the human body, damage the wheelchair, and change the correct position of the user’s pelvis. Many of the existing wheelchairs do not address all the needs of disabled people. The goal of this article is to develop an instrumented, dynamic seating system for people with extensor thrust using the Design Structure Matrix (DSM) tool in order to provide an efficient development sequence of the design tasks for three subsystems of the seat: the seat back, seat bottom, and footrest. This article provides a detailed application of the use of the DSM. It reveals that the design process of the three main systems can be executed concurrently with different teams having different specializations and proposes a method to minimize total design time.