Development of an Autonomous Driving Smart Wheelchair for the Physically Weak

People who have difficulty moving owing to problems in walking spend their lives assisted by wheelchairs. In the past, research has been conducted regarding the application of various technologies to electric wheelchairs for user convenience. In this study, we evaluated a method of applying an autonomous driving function and developed an autonomous driving function using ROS. An electric wheelchair with a control unit designed to enable autonomous driving was used to test the basic performance of autonomous driving. The effectiveness of the technology was confirmed by comparing the results of autonomous driving with those of manual driving on the same route. It is expected that the evaluation and improvement of the usability and ride quality as well as additional studies will help improve the mobility convenience of physically disabled persons.

RANCANG BANGUN KURSI RODA ELEKTRIK BERBASIS INTERNET OF THINGS (IOT)

Wheelchairs are mobility devices that are often used by people who have difficulty walking on their feet, due to illness, injury, or disability. Most of the wheelchairs that exist today are still using the manual system. Ideally, a wheelchair is needed so that users feel free and comfortable in adjusting the wheelchair movement according to their wishes. This study aims to make an innovation in the form of designing an electric wheelchair based on the internet of things (IoT). In this tool, there are several integrated electronic components such as NodeMCU, voltage sensor that is connected to the android smartphone application. Delphi XE8 software functions to create control applications that can be controlled via a smartphone. The control system on a smartphone uses an internet connection to process the wheelchair control system. This tool is very dependent on the connection and stability of the internet network. Design of electric wheelchair based IoT, has the performance that a wheelchair can carry a maximum load of 30kg at a speed of 0.79m / second, plus an accumulator / battery load and a 6.4kg DC motor, so that the total load can be under of 36.4kg.

Development of a New Negative Obstacle Sensor for Augmented Electric Wheelchair

Due to pathologies or age-related problems, in some disabled people, motor impairment is associated with cognitive and/or visual impairments. This combination of limitations unfortunately leads to an inability to move around independently. Indeed, their situation does not allow them to use a conventional electric wheelchair, for safety reasons, and for the moment there is no other technological solution providing safe movement capacity. This lack of access to an autonomous travel solution has the consequence of weakening the intellectual, personal, social, cultural and moral development, as well as the life expectancy, of the people concerned. In this context, our team is working on the development of an optoelectronic system that secures the displacement of electric wheelchairs. This is a large project that requires the development of several functionalities such as: the anti-collision of the wheelchair with its environment, the prevention of falls from the wheelchair on uneven levels, and the adaptation of the system mechanically and electronically to the majority of commercially available electric wheelchair models, among others. In this article, we introduce our solution for detecting dangerous height differences, also called “negative obstacles”, through the creation of a dedicated sensor. This sensor works by optical triangulation and can embed several laser beams in order to extend its detection zone. It has the particularity of being robust in direct sunlight and rain and has a sufficiently high measurement rate to be suitable for the displacement of electric wheelchairs. We develop an adapted algorithm, and point out compromises, in particular between the orientation of the laser beams and the maximal speed of the wheelchair.

Development of a Control System and Interface Design Based on an Electric Wheelchair

Recently, personal mobility has been researched and developed to make short-distance travel within the community more comfortable and convenient. However, from the viewpoint of personal mobility, there are problems such as difficulty in picking up items while shopping when operating the joystick for shopping and the inability to use hands freely. Accordingly, because the speed of personal mobility can be controlled by foot stepping like an accelerator pedal, we developed an electric wheelchair system that can control the speed by pedal operation. Furthermore, we developed a control system that considers the ride quality using an electric wheelchair with pedal control. In this study, the proposed method is detailed in three parts. Firstly, to develop the pedal mechanism, a potentiometer was used to detect the angle of the pedal mechanism, and a spring mechanism was designed for return to its original position after the pedal was pushed. Next, we propose a feedback control system that considers the ride quality of the operator. In addition, we integrated the system with a smart device-based robot system to realize the mobility as a service (MaaS). Finally, we present several examples of the system and discuss the applicability of the proposed system.