Abstract
Conventional robotic wheelchairs (three or four-wheeled) which are statically stable are poor in mobility. Though a two-wheeled robotic wheelchair has better mobility, it is not statically stable and needs an active stability controller. In addition to mobility and stability, velocity control is also important for the operation of a wheelchair. Conventional stability and velocity controllers rely on the motion of the wheels and require high driving torque and power. In this paper, this problem is tackled by adding a compact pendulum-like movable mechanism whose main function is for stability control. Its motion and those of the wheels are controlled through a quasi-sliding mode control approach to achieve a simultaneous velocity and stability control with much less driving torque and power. Simulation results are presented to show the effectiveness of the proposed controller.
Highlights
Compared to conventional manually operated wheelchairs, motorized wheelchairs equipped with an automatic control system have many advantages
Caster-free two-wheeled robotic wheelchair equipped with an active stability controller was proposed [8,9,10]
This paper presents a novel method for stability and velocity control of a two-wheeled robotic wheelchair
Summary
Compared to conventional manually operated wheelchairs, motorized wheelchairs equipped with an automatic control system (so-called robotic wheelchairs) have many advantages. They have better navigation capabilities and can respond to different motion requirements autonomously [1,2,3]. Though casters enhance the stability of the wheelchair, they have a negative effect on its mobility [5,6,7]. To solve this problem, caster-free two-wheeled robotic wheelchair equipped with an active stability controller was proposed [8,9,10]. The iBot has four wheels, but can be converted to a two-wheeled wheelchair by lifting up its two caster wheels [11,12,13]
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