Self Driving Wheelchair for People with Mobility Impairment

What is your project about?

To address the mobility challenges faced by individuals with upper body weakness and limited visibility, a self-driving wheelchair has been developed. This groundbreaking solution enables users to navigate safely from one location to another, the risk of collisions with obstacles and providing independence in mobility.

Why did you decide to make it?

In discussions with wheelchair users, it became apparent that maneuvering within confined spaces and entering doorways posed notable challenges, particularly when executing turns in narrow areas.

Wheelchair users often face challenges in navigating through indoor spaces, especially when accessing toilets. Traditional wheelchairs can be bulky and difficult to maneuver in tight spaces, which can make it challenging for users to access toilets independently.

To address challenges, a self-driving wheelchair has been developed by essential sensors directly into the wheelchair. This innovative solution aims to enhance maneuverability in confined spaces and facilitate smooth navigation, offering an improved and independent mobility experience for users.

Introduction

Designing an autonomous/Self-propelled wheelchair with direct toilet accessibility for people with mobility impairment.

Wheelchair users often face challenges in navigating through indoor spaces, especially when accessing toilets. Traditional wheelchairs can be bulky and difficult to maneuver in tight spaces, which can make it challenging for users to access toilets independently.

We have developed a toilet accessibility feature which aims to solve the challenges faced when accessing toilet independently.

Toilet Pipe Design (prototype model)

Our design involves a flexible duct/pipe for ease of use and there is no need for separate storage waste bowls. This cuts down the cost needed for a separate bowl and no need to remove the bowl and drop the waste in commode this makes sure the assistant/care-giver also doesn’t feel uneasy.

The Pipe design can be also modified to be used in conventional wheelchairs i.e. (The toilet setup can be used as per need and only needs a slight modification in normal wheelchairs)

The pipe portion can detached from the lowering mechanism and can be unscrewed and cleaned after use. The insides can be cleaned if the any waste is present.

Our design can support western toilet commode heights due to adjustable nature of the pipe. In our current prototype, due to limitations with our seat height from ground level, it supports Indian toilet commode easily. Hence, there is useability and functionality of the lowering mechanism.

Bowl portion will be sprayed with a non-sticky coating and loose bio-degradable sheets will be provided to place it on the bowl area will allow smooth flow of waste from bowl to commode via pipe.

A small hole has been provided for cleaning and the intensity of water flow can be adjusted through a flow nozzle switch.

Wet wipes can be used to clean the bowl area after use.

Autonomous capability and Teleoperation through Joystick and Mobile app. (working)

The wheelchair contains all the necessary equipment for self-navigation in an indoor space.

First, the local map or the indoor map of the environment will be scanned and stored locally in the Controller. The scans will be taken by a LiDAR and will be further used to autonomously navigate in the indoor environment for avoiding dynamic obstacles and path planning.

AMCL Algorithm used for wheelchair localization and path planning algorithm used for create shortest path in map like A to B location.

2D Pose Estimate-For initial goal

• Click on the map where the actual wheelchair is located and drag the large green arrow toward the direction where the wheelchair is facing.
• The Lidar sensor will provide the wheelchair's location in the form of a sensor message to AMCL.
• And also Lidar play major role in decision making process is any obstacle.
• To estimate initial position of wheelchair by clicking 2D pose estimate.

2D Nav Goal- For 2D navigation

• Clicking on the 2D Nav Goal allows the user to navigate and reach their destination.

• The 2D goal pose will guide the wheelchair from its initial position to the destination.

GOAL TO REACH

1 = Bedroom

2 = Bathroom

3 = Front Door

4 = Kitchen

Clicking these numbers will lead to reaching the goal.

For example

if I click 4 on my display, the wheelchair will move to kitchen. If I clink 1 on display, the wheelchair will go to my bathroom.

Mobile App will be used for navigation

The connection between the navigation system and the wheelchair is established by utilizing the IP address of the wheelchair.

References

• https://blogs.nvidia.com/blog/kabilan-kb-autonomous-wheelchair/
• https://hackaday.com/2023/10/04/autonomous-wheelchair-lets-jetson-do-the-driving/
• https://blogs.nvidia.com/blog/2023/10/03/kabilan-kb-autonomous-wheelchair/
• https://embeddedcomputing.com/technology/ai-machine-learning/computer-vision-speech-processing/developer-pairs-embedded-compute-with-ai-for-mobility-device

_________

For example

Developed a toilet accessibility feature which aims to solve the challenges faced when accessing toilet independently.

conclusion

The development of a self-driving wheelchair solution to the mobility challenges by individuals with upper body weakness and limited visibility. This groundbreaking technology not only ensures safe navigation between locations but also the risk of collisions with obstacles, ultimately empowering users with independence in their mobility.