(Georgia Institute of Technology, 2022-07)
Deshpande, Yogesh; Sprigle, Stephen
The evaluation of wheelchair cushion performance is of interest to a variety of stakeholders. Over the years, several buttocks models have been used to evaluate wheelchair cushion performance. These vary in design and purpose, and can be generally classified as either rigid or compliant.
To date, published studies using buttock models have been limited to using a single size model. Thus, they were designed to evaluate one size of cushions. A need exists to define a series of models that can be used to evaluate cushions of varying sizes. The objective of this project was to develop a family of compliant buttock models that are based upon the anatomical parameters of persons with varying body sizes. This paper will detail the designs, describe the anatomical basis for the design and provide the rationale for the design decisions. Supplemental material includes greater detail; the full CAD files and model fabrication instructions are available in an open access repository for persons who wish to fabricate the models.