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The paper aims to study the applicability and limitations of the solution resulting from a design process for an intelligent system supporting people with special needs who are not physically able to control a wheelchair using classical systems. The intelligent system uses information from smart sensors and offers a control system that replaces the use of a joystick. The necessary movements of the chair in the environment can be determined by an intelligent vision system analyzing the direction of the patient’s gaze and point of view, as well as the actions of the head. In this approach, an important task is to detect the destination target in the 3D workspace. This solution has been evaluated, outdoor and indoor, under different lighting conditions. In order to design the intelligent wheelchair, and because sometimes people with special needs also have specific problems with their optical system (e.g., strabismus, Nystagmus) the system was tested on different subjects, some of them wearing eyeglasses. During the design process of the intelligent system, all the tests involving human subjects were performed in accordance with specific rules of medical security and ethics. In this sense, the process was supervised by a company specialized in health activities that involve people with special needs. The main results and findings are as follows: validation of the proposed solution for all indoor lightning conditions; methodology to create personal profiles, used to improve the HMI efficiency and to adapt it to each subject needs; a primary evaluation and validation for the use of personal profiles in real life, indoor conditions. The conclusion is that the proposed solution can be used for persons who are not physically able to control a wheelchair using classical systems, having with minor vision deficiencies or major vision impairment affecting one of the eyes.

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In executing aerobic gymnastics technical elements, a high level of explosive power is needed, especially at lower-body muscle groups. In addition, to maintain the specific effort during routine length (1 min 30 s - 1 min 45 s), an optimal development of specific endurance training and a high capacity of focusing is required, in order to execute the technical elements with accuracy. The purpose of this study was to elaborate a testing protocol to evaluate the physical effort capacity necessary to perform specific technical elements in aerobic gymnastics. The proposed testing protocol, is aimed at assessing neuromuscular behavior of lower-body muscle action and the physiological demands, in a maximal vertical jump test (MVJ). The neuromuscular assessment of the of lower-body was achieved by measuring the specific vertical jump parameters, respectively the power in the take-off phase (P) and the height of the jump (JH). The testing protocol consisted of three sets of maximum vertical jumps, lasting 30 s each, with a 15 s rest time between sets. For the physiological demands, as a result of test implementation, heart rate (HR) and the blood lactate concentration (La) were measured. The study was conducted on a group of 13 junior level gymnasts, 7 females and 6 males (aged 14-16 years, average height 163 SD 8.1 cm, average weight 50.69 SD 8.47 kg). The results of this study confirm the proposed methodology reflects an objective view of the physical training status necessary for specific effort accomplishment in aerobic performance gymnastics.