4. My customer has a condition that results in varying degrees of hand tremor? Can PG’s wheelchair controllers compensate for this?

Yes, providing you have a Pilot+ system, VR2 or R-net. Each of these controllers has a programmable parameter that allows the effects of hand tremor to be reduced. If the user has a condition that results in hand tremor, then increasing the value of ‘Tremor Damping’ will reduce the effect of the tremor, making the wheelchair more comfortable. ‘Tremor Damping’ can be set between 0% and 100%. A value of 0% means ‘Tremor Damping’ has no effect, however, even at this value, there is some inherent damping in the control system. Higher values apply a higher level of damping. Remember though, the higher the ‘Tremor Damping’ parameter is set, the slower the joystick response will become. This parameter is also available in drive profiles, meaning that different levels of damping can be set for various degrees of tremor, e.g. various settings for different times of the day.

When setting ‘Tremor Damping’, pay particular attention to stopping distances. As the parameter dampens the response to the joystick commands, stopping distance can be affected. To stop the wheelchair with ‘Tremor Damping’ activated you must release the joystick and allow it to centre.