Instrumentation and Assessment of an Adaptive Bike for Tracking Physical Performance of Children with Disabilities

I would first like to show my gratitude to Freedom Concepts Inc. for trusting me to accomplish the first part of the smart bike project. They were always accessible to give support of any kind in order to facilitate the research work. I wish to express my sincerest appreciation to my supervisor, Dr. Danny Mann, for his guidance and advice through each stage of the project. The door to Dr. Mann office was always open whenever I ran into a trouble spot or had a question about my research or writing. He was there to steer me in the right direction when it was needed while still allowing this work to be my own. I would also like to extend my deepest gratitude to Dr. Jacquie Ripat and Dr. Cheryl Glazebrook, members of the research group, for their valuable and constructive suggestions during this research work. Their knowledge about individuals that suffer from neuromuscular disorders have allowed to replicate scenarios that would be indicative of specific types of disabilities on the experimental part and objectively analyze the data. I would like to thank Aashka Desai, member of the research work, for her cooperation, especially during the experimental phase. Her help was crucial in collecting all the data. I gratefully acknowledge the assistance of the Electronics Technicians of the Agriculture Engineering Building. Their support and help have been of vital importance to be able to overcome technological challenges that appeared along the way. I would like to extend my sincere thanks to my exchange advisor, Nammy Nadarajah, for attending me whenever I had doubts about anything related to my exchange period and give me the opportunity to participate in this project. Thanks should also go to all the people I have met during this exchange period, they have made this experience full of memorable memories. Finally, I must express my very profound gratitude to my family for all the support and continuous encouragement throughout my years of study and especially to give me the opportunity to move to another country to accomplish my master’s Thesis.