Development of intelligent seating system for cerebral palsy

A proper seating is very important for severe cerebral palsy patients, and has good influence on patients´ physical bodies and mentalities. Deformity of spine causes gaps between a back of patient and a wheel chair backrest. Generally, urethane cushions are used to fill up the gaps. However, this method cannot handle the deformation of posture of users. The objective of this paper is to develop an automatically transformable seating system with air pressure. As a preliminary of the development, we conducted characteristic tests for the rubber bag. Furthermore we developed the intelligent seating system (i-Seating) and we conducted back pressure tests of the i-seating over the wheel chair and a desk.