Page 26 - Mobility Management, February 2017

Q-Logic 3 Electronics: Ready Now & for Whatever Comes Next
We expect mainstream manufacturers to say they design products to be intuitive, and it’s a nice buzzword. But realistically, if our new smart- phone or coffee maker doesn’t work exactly as we anticipated, we adjust and move on with our lives (and our coffee-making).
It’s far more complicated for complex rehab tech- nology (CRT) manufacturers, whose users are limited in their abilities to adapt. To an able-bodied smartphone user, scrolling through a few extra screens is no big deal. But needing to do the same to operate a power wheel- chair can literally cost a client his or her independence.
The most successful CRT isn’t just intuitive. It also antic- ipates what every stakeholder needs, from consumer to clinician to ATP.
Introducing Q-Logic 3 with iAccess
With its January launch, Quantum Rehab’s Q-Logic 3 power chair electronics system seeks to do exactly that — address advanced electronics needs of consumers, clinicians and ATPs with next-gen functionality.
Asked about its highlights, Jay Doherty, OTR, ATP/SMS, senior clinical education manager for the Eastern United States, rolled out a list of features and upgraded func- tions engineered to streamline stakeholder experiences across the board, from the clinician doing an evaluation in clinic, to the consumer using a power chair for hours every day, to the ATP or technician adjusting the elec- tronics as a client’s needs evolve.
At the top of the highlight reel, Doherty describes iAccess, a new module that enables clinicians and ATPs to fine-tune preferences and functions on a whole new level. There are four rocker switches on the unit, and “It allows up to 19 functions to be accessed through the module,” Doherty says. “Those functions are program- mable. If you change the function that’s on a button, the LED picture that’s on the iAccess changes as well. So it coincides with what the function is.”
He notes that iAccess is “very customizable” to each consumer’s needs and preferences. For instance, if you order a Q-Logic 3-equipped power chair with power tilt, recline and iLevel, Quantum’s power adjustable seat elevation system, those functions are programmed in at the factory. “But you can switch where they’re located [on the electronics system] to make it easier for the indi- vidual,” Doherty says.
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And Q-Logic 3 features a “home key” — more on that later. “If somebody can’t access the home key on the hand control, we can program one of the [iAccess] buttons as a home key or a mode key,” Doherty says. “We have a lot of customization that can be done. They could have a shortcut key to enter their Bluetooth mouse screen and have mouse clicks on each button as well.”
iAccess has the ability to operate on multiple levels
or “pages” to maximize the total number of functions available. “As they change pages, the functions would change,” Doherty says. “That’s how you can have up to 19 functions on one iAccess. Most people probably won’t use that, but the fact that they could is pretty significant.”
Programmability in the Real World (& Clinic)
When a system offers that degree of configurability — it could be hard to find two Q-Logic 3-equipped power chairs exactly alike — the question of efficiency comes up. How do all those possibilities work in the time- crunched world of therapists and ATPs, where client changes are either a possibility or probability?
For starters, Q-Logic’s basic programming process is familiar and quick, Doherty says: “On the programming station, you click on an icon, drag it over to the button on the screen and drop it. It’s a drag and drop.”
CRT professionals can even choose how to program the system: “It can be programmed two ways, either through the hand-held programmer or with our new programming station.”
A new feature called Clinic Mode was designed to help clinicians and ATPs make the most of the scant time they have to perform evaluations.
“For a demo chair, when you’re using it for evaluation, you just set it to Clinic Mode,” Doherty says. “Hold the on toggle forward for about six seconds. Once the screen flashes, you release it, and it automatically takes you into a screen that says Clinic Mode. Clinic Mode allows you to program an initial starting point for whatever input device you’re using, such as a proportional chin control through the enhanced display, or a head array through a SCIM module. This allows you to program it with input commands on the device without a programmer. It’s
a quick, easy way to get a basic setup of a specialty control on the system.”
The Q-Logic 3 designers were especially sensitive to the evaluation environment, when therapists are
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