Wheelchair users often face architectural barriers such as curbs, limiting their accessibility, mobility, and participation in their communities. The mobility enhancement robotic (MEBot) wheelchair was developed to navigate over such architectural barriers. Its application allows wheelchair users to negotiate curbs automatically while the user remains in control. The application was optimized from a manual to a semiautomated process based on wheelchair users' feedback. The optimized application was evaluated by experienced wheelchair users who navigated over curbs of different heights. Participants evaluated MEBot in terms of effectiveness, workload demand, and usability. Ten participants successfully ascended and descended curbs of different heights at an average completion time of 55.7 ± 19.5 and 30.3 ± 9.1 s, respectively. MEBot maintained stability during the process, while participants reported low levels of effort, frustration, and overall cognitive demand to operate MEBot. Furthermore, participants were satisfied with the ease of learning and using the MEBot curb negotiation application to overcome the curbs but suggested less wheel adjustment for comfort and a faster pace to overcome curbs during real-world conditions.

The ability to perform activities of daily living and mobility-related activities of daily living are substantial indicators of one's ability to live at home and to participate in one's community. Technologies to assist with mobility and manipulation are among the most important tools that clinicians can provide to people with disabilities to promote independence and community participation. For people with severe disabilities involving both the upper and lower extremities, there are few systems that provide practical and coordinated assistance with mobility and manipulation tasks. The personal mobility and manipulation appliance (PerMMA) was created in response to goals set forth by a team of clinicians and people with disabilities.

The potential of modern telecommunications and computing technologies as tools in the delivery and evaluation of assistive technology (AT) has been discussed and has been termed telerehabilitation. The problems of providing AT in rural areas parallels the delivery of health care to rural areas where the proportion of people with chronic illnesses is higher and the means to pay for them is reduced. Large distances mean long travel times, increasing costs associated with any service delivery, and consuming valuable time skilled professionals could be using to provide services elsewhere. The technology available for practising telerehabilitation is significant and expanding at a rapid rate. Currently, plain old telephone systems (POTS) and broad-band videoconferencing equipment, Internet and World Wide Web, and embedded processor systems are most widely available. These technologies continue to evolve as well as emerging technologies such as wearable sensors that will have telehabilitation applications. Issues of payment, safety liability, and licensure need to be resolved, as legislation lags the development of new technologies.