Autonomously Controlled Intelligent Wheelchair System for Indoor Areas

Abstract

Autonomously controlled intelligent wheelchair is an electric wheelchair system that can reach a desired position by finding paths without any need for user intervention. Pathfinding can be performed in outdoor areas with the support of global positioning system (GPS) while interior mapping is required for indoor areas. In this study, an autonomous control interface design that can work with intelligent wheelchairs has been implemented to be used on indoor areas. This interface is used building floor plans and pathfinding algorithms for planning a path to a selected destination. The autonomous control of an electrically powered wheelchair is performed using fuzzy logic on the planned path. On the hardware side, a depth camera, a single board computer, microcontrollers, speed sensors, lighting systems and a motor driver are added on the electric-powered wheelchair. All components are operated under the coordination that provided with the interface. The instantaneously detection of obstacles that may be encountered causes the path to be changed with an alternative, and this situation can be shown synchronously within a simulation software.