LIDAR-based autonomous wheelchair

Abstract

Electric wheelchairs restore mobility and independence to those with injuries limiting their movement. However, individuals suffering from arthritis or motor neuron degenerative diseases e.g. amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) lack the fine motor control to fluently control electric wheelchairs. These individuals are left dependent on others, drastically reducing their independence and quality of life. This study seeks to mitigate these problems by presenting a wheelchair capable of autonomous navigation, with minimal directive from the user. The wheelchair uses the robot operating system (ROS), microcontrollers, rotary encoders, and a LIDAR unit to navigate. The LI-DAR unit provides vital measurements of the environment which are used to construct a map of the surroundings. ROS receives input from the LIDAR sensor along with the rotary encoders to determine a navigable path to a user-defined destination. ROS sends movement commands to a microcontroller to move the wheelchair along the designated path. The navigation system is designed to adapt to changes in the environment and reroute the wheelchair if new obstacles emerge. During the autonomous system testing, involving ten trials, the wheelchair successfully navigated to the expected destination in 100% of the trials. Based on these preliminary results, the autonomous wheelchair has the potential to restore independent indoor mobility. Further development could provide autonomous navigation capabilities in outdoor environments.