Influence of Safe Driving Support System for Electric Wheelchair on Operation Input

Abstract

This paper describes the influence on operation input which is given by a safe driving support system for an electric wheelchair. A wheelchair is rapidly introduced as a mobility for elderly people who has disabilities on walking. Along with that, collision accidents of the wheelchair also increase and many causes are mistakes of operation and recognition of a driver. Therefore we developed the safe driving support system which contains a Laser Range Finder (LRF) and Ultrasonic Sensors (USSs) for obstacle detection. The wheelchair avoids the collision based on degrees of collision risk which is calculated based on fuzzy reasoning from control input of joystick and the distance for obstacles measured by the LRF and USSs. The system not only affects motion of the wheelchair, but also the driver’s condition and judgement for driving. We confirmed that the system enhances a controllability and safety, and influences operation input of driver from some experimental results.