Design and development of a smart wheelchair with multiple control interfaces

Abstract

The degradation of mobility is one of the major concerns that affect the independent living ability of elderly/ disabled people. Therefore, mobility assistive devices are being developed to uplift the living standards of the people. However, the existing mobility assistive devices require improvements. This paper presents about design and development of a smart wheelchair with multiple control interfaces. A prototype of the smart wheelchair system has been developed based on a conventional wheelchair that is commonly available in the market, with the addition of related electrical and mechanical advancements. Voice and gesture controlling interfaces are deployed to the system in addition to the conventional joystick-controlling interface to enhance the interaction with the user. Particulars on the mechanical design, the electrical and control system of the smart wheelchair are presented. Experiments have been conducted to verify the functionality of the developed smart wheelchair. Furthermore, the user preferences between the different controlling interfaces have been evaluated through a user study and the results are presented.