Development of an Anti-collision and Navigation System for Powered Wheelchairs

• Main Author: How, Tuck-Voon
• Other Authors: Mihailidis, Alex
• Language: en_ca
• Published: 2010
• Subjects: assistive technology; rehabilitation engineering; powered wheelchair; computer vision; cognitive impairment; older adults; intelligent wheelchair; 0541; 0544
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/1807/25621

Powered wheelchairs offer a means of independent mobility for older adults who are unable to walk and cannot propel a manual wheelchair. Unfortunately, cognitively impaired older adults may be denied this means of independent mobility. There is concern that these adults are unable to drive a powered wheelchair safely or properly. Intelligent wheelchairs offer an approach to address this problem. This research outlines the development and evaluation of an Intelligent Wheelchair System (IWS) that is proposed to make powered wheelchairs safer and easier to use for cognitively impaired older adults. The IWS has anti-collision and navigation functions. Hardware results show a 1000% increase in computational speed compared to the previous IWS. Clinical results with dementia patients show that the IWS has the potential to increase safety by reducing frontal collisions, and by promoting safe completion of movement tasks. Usability of the system may be an issue.