“A quadriplegic woman recently had her first child. Working with her occupational therapist, the engineers at Mayo Clinic designed and built an attachment for her powered wheelchair that would position and support the baby facing her mother so that they could interact more often and intimately than would otherwise be possible. The device comprised a commercial infant car seat and welded aluminum frame with multiple degrees of freedom. The design was created in SolidWorks and its strength validated using finite element analysis before being built. The attachment has been used successfully since October 2007.”

Keywords: wheelchair, infant care, parenting, adaptive equipment, finite element analysis

Alexander D. Streeter, M.S.

Division of Engineering, Mayo Clinic