Page 55 - Mobility Management, July/August 2021

Collision Avoidance Test
Collision avoidance testing is performed on each wheelchair model. Each model is driven at a target from various angles, at various speeds, and with different LUCI settings totaling more than 275 individual attempts to collide with obstacles per model of wheelchair.
LUCI’s collision avoidance is 100% effective at slowing the chair before a collision with a detected stationary object and is approximately 95% effective at stopping the wheelchair completely before contact based on our test methods.
If LUCI stops the chair from colliding and then the user is allowed to aggressively attempt to hit the obstacle by moving the joystick around (we call this the swish test). Our data from the swish test shows, LUCI still manages to keep the chair from touching the obstacle in approximately 90% of cases. When there is a “collision” in this swish test case it is a minor caster scrape or toe drag on the obstacle that is unlikely to harm the user.
SENARIO A: WITHOUT LUCI
MINIMUM BREAKING DISTANCE UP TO 9.2 FT
SENARIO B: WITH LUCI
Let’s compare the collision avoidance scenario
for a power wheelchair user driving at top speed towards a detected target. In Scenario A, without LUCI, the user would need to identify the obstacle and let go of the joystick up to 11.5 feet from the obstacle, depending on wheelchair model, in order to avoid a collision based on published minimum braking distances of the wheelchair. Now looking at Scenario B, with LUCI, the same user driving
at the same obstacle with the same initial speed could continue to hold full forward on the joystick
MINIMUM BREAKING DISTANCE < 6 FT
while approaching the obstacle and would have a 100% chance of a lesser collision and a 95% chance that in spite of their reckless driving they wouldn’t even contact the obstacle! LUCI still takes time to slow the chair down smoothly to avoid launching the driver out of the chair (slowing a 300+ lb. object from 6 – 6.5 mph to zero in less than 6 feet is a major deceleration). If you replace the reckless driver with a typical driver then LUCI will slow
the chair to a safe speed and give them time to maneuver around the obstacle.
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LUCI® SAFETY REPORT