Toward constructing a user-environment interface for a smart light-mobile wheelchair

Abstract

Automatic and intelligent health care service becomes important with the growth of aged population. To achieve intelligent mobility for a smart wheelchair, we proposed to construct a user-environment interface that users can interact with the living environment like a normal healthy person. An integrated interactive platform, including touch control panel, together with several cameras, and wireless sensors, is embedded on a wheelchair to achieve friendly interaction. Interaction functions, such as appliance control, semi-automatic vision assistant function, and physiological information monitoring function etc. have been developed. The target of light mobility is achieved and the overall smart wheelchair system comprise: a mobile vehicle, information sensor modules, analysis control modules and an image capture unit which is set towards the headrest direction of the mobile vehicle to capture a user's facial image data. The physiological information sensor module is used for sensing at least one physiological data of the user. The analysis control module outputs a seamless monitoring signal to a caregiver side in response to the image data or the at least one physiological data. These user-environment interaction functions are developed under the design target of human technology that the wheelchair user can interact with the environment like a normal person.