Wheelchair driving simulator: Computer aided training for persons with special need

According to Hungarian Central Statistical Office´s 2011 data, there is nearly half million (490578 person) people living in Hungary with some kind of disability. Approximately half of the previously mentioned people are disabled. These data show that institutes, like the National Institute of Medical Rehabilitation (OORI) can provide a great help for the for the rehabilitation and supply of the injured and diseased. The different care departments (surgeries, gyms, aquatherapy, physicotherapy, ambulance and service units) of the OORI are easily accessible and the colleagues can complete complex rehabilitation tasks with team work. The department of ergotherapy received a place here, the main aim of which is to try different activities in musculoskeletal rehabilitation; and, if it is needed, their re-learning. These activities are in connection with self-sufficiency, with work-based activities and the so called recreational free-time activities. The virtual reality based simulator, which was designed in the Virtual Environments and Optics Research Laboratory of the University of Pannonia, was primarily designed for people who have to learn how to drive a wheelchair due to a recent accident or disease. A computer application, a simulator has been created, which plays an important role in the early phase of preparation of wheelchair driving.