Development and Testing of a Robotic Wheelchair System for Outdoor Navigation
By Yanco, Holly A.; RESNA 2001: Annual Conference Proceedings, Vol. 21, No. 1, pp. 145-147Publication Date: June 2001
Paper describing Wheelesley, a robotic wheelchair system meant for outdoor navigation that utilizes a vision system to avoid obstacles and stay centered on its current path. Sensors used in indoor environments, such as sonar and infrared are usually noneffective in outdoor environments. Assistive navigation in an outdoor environment is accomplished using computer vision. Wheelesley has a STH-V1 Stereo Head from Videre Designs mounted on the front of the wheelchair's tray to capture images of the environment in front of the wheelchair. Distances between points in the image are used to compute obstacle boundaries for obstacle avoidance. The navigation also computes the location of the edges of the current path to provide safe travel. Tests have indicated that robotic assisted control resulted in a 74 percent reduction in driving effort, and a 20 percent reduction in time needed to travel through a testing course when compared with a manual, standard controlled wheelchair.
Published by: Rehabilitation Engineering & Assistive Technology Society of North America (RESNA) (Website:http://www.resna.org)
ISBN: 0-932101-43-7
This publication is included in the library of the National Rehabilitation Information Center (NARIC), accession number O14176
