Abstract
People who have difficulty moving owing to problems in walking spend their lives assisted by wheelchairs. In the past, research has been conducted regarding the application of various technologies to electric wheelchairs for user convenience. In this study, we evaluated a method of applying an autonomous driving function and developed an autonomous driving function using ROS. An electric wheelchair with a control unit designed to enable autonomous driving was used to test the basic performance of autonomous driving. The effectiveness of the technology was confirmed by comparing the results of autonomous driving with those of manual driving on the same route. It is expected that the evaluation and improvement of the usability and ride quality as well as additional studies will help improve the mobility convenience of physically disabled persons.
Highlights
We developed an electric wheelchair with two artificial intelligence functions to assist physically disabled persons and validated its effectiveness through experiments
We conducted the minimum turning radius and obstacle bump climbing performance evaluations to check whether the electric wheelchair could turn and overcome obstacles freely during autonomous driving
The minimum turning radius was 557.5 mm compared to the goal of 625 mm, while in the case of going over obstacle bumps, the electric wheelchair went over an obstacle of 3 cm height, satisfying the goal of 1.5 cm
Summary
There are various types of disabilities, such as physical disabilities, visual impairments, hearing impairments, and developmental disabilities, and people with disabilities commonly experience difficulties in their daily lives, and they may sometimes not have access to various social rights. Among these rights include the right to move, which is regarded as the most fundamental right. A study was conducted on applying an autonomous driving function to a wheelchair, and a chatbot with reinforcement learning was applied to an electric wheelchair so that the physically weak can receive mobility assistance more conveniently.
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