739 research outputs found
Development of a Voice Controlled Electric Wheelchair to Aid the Movement of the Physically Challenged
Nigeria is said to have the highest number of physically challenged in Africa and second only to India in the world. Traditional Electrical Wheel Chair has some limitations. In order to assist the physically handicapped, this paper presents the development of a voice controlled wheelchair. The user can control the wheelchair by voice commands, such as “jagaba (go forward)” in Hausa. A grammar-based recognition parser was used in the system. The system comprises of a wheelchair motorize by a DC motor, works on inputs such as voice commands via an android phone and navigates according to the command and battery powered. Voice command input was taken from android mobile and converted into text which is transmitted to microcontroller via Bluetooth module to control the operation of DC motors. Also an IR detection system was used to detect the obstacle in the path of wheelchair to avoid its collision. The chair enables the handicapped person to independently move around. A running experiment with three (3) persons was carried out on speech recognition. 95.4% and 94.0% of the movement command and the verification command were obtained respectively. Keywords: Control, Home Navigation System, Microcontroller, Physically Challenged, Voice Command, Voice Recognition and Wheelchair
Overcoming barriers and increasing independence: service robots for elderly and disabled people
This paper discusses the potential for service robots to overcome barriers and increase independence of
elderly and disabled people. It includes a brief overview of the existing uses of service robots by disabled and elderly
people and advances in technology which will make new uses possible and provides suggestions for some of these new
applications. The paper also considers the design and other conditions to be met for user acceptance. It also discusses
the complementarity of assistive service robots and personal assistance and considers the types of applications and
users for which service robots are and are not suitable
Gyro-Accelerometer based Control of an Intelligent Wheelchair
This paper presents a free-hand interface to control an electric wheelchair using the head gesture for people with severe disabilities i.e. multiple sclerosis, quadriplegic patients and old age people. The patient head acceleration and rotation rate are used to control the intelligent wheelchair. The patient head gesture is detected using accelerometer and gyroscope sensors embedded on a single board MPU6050. The MEMS sensors outputs are combined using Kalman filter as sensor fusion to build a high accurate orientation sensor. The system uses an Arduino mega as microcontroller to perform data processing, sensor fusion and joystick emulation to control the intelligent wheelchair and HC-SR04 ultrasonic sensors to provide safe navigation.The wheelchair can be controlled using two modes. In the first mode, the wheelchair is controlled by the usual joystick. In the second mode, the patient uses his head motion to control the wheelchair. The principal advantage of the proposed approach is that the switching between the two control modes is soft, straightforward and transparent to the user
Autonomous wheelchair with a smart driving mode and a Wi-Fi positioning system
Wheelchairs are an important aid that enhances the mobility of people with
several types of disabilities. Therefore, there has been considerable research and
development on wheelchairs to meet the needs of the disabled. Since the early manual
wheelchairs to their more recent electric powered counterparts, advancements have
focused on improving autonomy in mobility. Other developments, such as Internet
advancements, have developed the concept of the Internet of Things (IoT). This is a
promising area that has been studied to enhance the independent operation of the
electrical wheelchairs by enabling autonomous navigation and obstacle avoidance.
This dissertation describes shortly the design of an autonomous wheelchair of the
IPL/IT (Instituto Politécnico de Leiria/Instituto de Telecomunicações) with smart
driving features for persons with visual impairments. The objective is to improve the
prototype of an intelligent wheelchair. The first prototype of the wheelchair was built
to control it by voice, ocular movements, and GPS (Global Positioning System).
Furthermore, the IPL/IT wheelchair acquired a remote control feature which could
prove useful for persons with low levels of visual impairment. This tele-assistance
mode will be helpful to the family of the wheelchair user or, simply, to a health care
assistant. Indoor and outdoor positioning systems, with printed directional Wi-Fi
antennas, have been deployed to enable a precise location of our wheelchair. The
underlying framework for the wheelchair system is the IPL/IT low cost autonomous
wheelchair prototype that is based on IoT technology for improved affordability
Development of a Voice-Controlled Human-Robot Interface
The goal of this thesis is to develop a voice-controlled human-robot interface (HRI) which allows a person to control and communicate with a robot. Dragon NaturallySpeaking, a commercially available automatic speech recognition engine, was chosen for the development of the proposed HRI. In order to achieve the goal, the Dragon software is used to create custom commands (or macros) which must satisfy the tasks of (a) directly controlling the robot with voice, (b) writing a robot program with voice, and (c) developing a HRI which allows the human and robot to communicate with each other using speech. The key is to generate keystrokes upon recognizing the speech and three types of macro including step-by-step, macro recorder, and advanced scripting. Experiment was conducted in three phases to test the functionality of the developed macros in accomplishing all three tasks. The result showed that advanced scripting macro is the only type of macro that works. It is also the most suitable for the task because it is quick and easy to create and can be used to develop flexible and natural voice command. Since the output of macro is a series of keystrokes, which forms a syntax for the robot program, macros developed by the Dragon software can be used to communicate with virtually any robots by making an adjustment on the output keystroke
The 2nd Conference on Remotely Manned Systems (RMS): Technology and Applications
Control theory and the design of manipulators, teleoperators, and robots are considered. Applications of remotely manned vehicles to space maintenance and orbital assembly, industry and productivity, undersea operations, and rehabilitation systems are emphasized
Wheelchair control using EEG signal classification
Tato diplomová práce představuje koncept elektrického invalidního vozíku ovládaného lidskou myslí. Tento koncept je určen pro osoby, které elektrický invalidní vozík nemohou ovládat klasickými způsoby, jakým je například joystick. V práci jsou popsány čtyři hlavní komponenty konceptu: elektroencefalograf, brain-computer interface (rozhraní mozek-počítač), systém sdílené kontroly a samotný elektrický invalidní vozík. V textu je představena použitá metodologie a výsledky provedených experimentů. V závěru jsou nastíněna doporučení pro budoucí vývoj.This diploma thesis presents the concept of mind-controlled electric wheelchair designed for people who are not able to use other interfaces such as hand joystick. Four main components of concept are described: electroencephalography, brain-computer interface, shared control and the electric wheelchair. In the text used methodology is described and results of conducted experiments are presented. In conclusion suggestions for future development are outlined.
Classificação de pacientes para adaptação de cadeira de rodas inteligente
Doutoramento em Engenharia InformáticaA importância e preocupação dedicadas à autonomia e independência das
pessoas idosas e dos pacientes que sofrem de algum tipo de deficiência tem
vindo a aumentar significativamente ao longo das últimas décadas. As
cadeiras de rodas inteligentes (CRI) são tecnologias que podem ajudar este
tipo de população a aumentar a sua autonomia, sendo atualmente uma área
de investigação bastante ativa. Contudo, a adaptação das CRIs a pacientes
específicos e a realização de experiências com utilizadores reais são assuntos
de estudo ainda muito pouco aprofundados.
A cadeira de rodas inteligente, desenvolvida no âmbito do Projeto IntellWheels,
é controlada a alto nível utilizando uma interface multimodal flexível,
recorrendo a comandos de voz, expressões faciais, movimentos de cabeça e
através de joystick. Este trabalho teve como finalidade a adaptação automática
da CRI atendendo às características dos potenciais utilizadores.
Foi desenvolvida uma metodologia capaz de criar um modelo do utilizador. A
investigação foi baseada num sistema de recolha de dados que permite obter
e armazenar dados de voz, expressões faciais, movimentos de cabeça e do
corpo dos pacientes. A utilização da CRI pode ser efetuada em diferentes
situações em ambiente real e simulado e um jogo sério foi desenvolvido
permitindo especificar um conjunto de tarefas a ser realizado pelos
utilizadores. Os dados foram analisados recorrendo a métodos de extração de
conhecimento, de modo a obter o modelo dos utilizadores. Usando os
resultados obtidos pelo sistema de classificação, foi criada uma metodologia
que permite selecionar a melhor interface e linguagem de comando da cadeira
para cada utilizador.
A avaliação para validação da abordagem foi realizada no âmbito do Projeto
FCT/RIPD/ADA/109636/2009 - "IntellWheels - Intelligent Wheelchair with
Flexible Multimodal Interface". As experiências envolveram um vasto conjunto
de indivíduos que sofrem de diversos níveis de deficiência, em estreita
colaboração com a Escola Superior de Tecnologia de Saúde do Porto e a
Associação do Porto de Paralisia Cerebral. Os dados recolhidos através das
experiências de navegação na CRI foram acompanhados por questionários
preenchidos pelos utilizadores. Estes dados foram analisados estatisticamente,
a fim de provar a eficácia e usabilidade na adequação da interface da CRI ao
utilizador. Os resultados mostraram, em ambiente simulado, um valor de
usabilidade do sistema de 67, baseado na opinião de uma amostra de
pacientes que apresentam os graus IV e V (os mais severos) de Paralisia
Cerebral. Foi também demonstrado estatisticamente que a interface atribuída
automaticamente pela ferramenta tem uma avaliação superior à sugerida pelos
técnicos de Terapia Ocupacional, mostrando a possibilidade de atribuir
automaticamente uma linguagem de comando adaptada a cada utilizador.
Experiências realizadas com distintos modos de controlo revelaram a
preferência dos utilizadores por um controlo compartilhado com um nível de
ajuda associado ao nível de constrangimento do paciente. Em conclusão, este
trabalho demonstra que é possível adaptar automaticamente uma CRI ao
utilizador com claros benefícios a nível de usabilidade e segurança.The importance and concern given to the autonomy and independence of
elderly people and patients suffering from some kind of disability has been
growing significantly in the last few decades. Intelligent wheelchairs (IW) are
technologies that can increase the autonomy and independence of this kind of
population and are nowadays a very active research area. However, the
adaptations to users’ specificities and experiments with real users are topics
that lack deeper studies.
The intelligent wheelchair, developed in the context of the IntellWheels project,
is controlled at a high-level through a flexible multimodal interface, using voice
commands, facial expressions, head movements and joystick as its main input
modalities. This work intended to develop a system enabling the automatic
adaptation, to the user characteristics, of the previously developed intelligent
wheelchair.
A methodology was created enabling the creation of a user model. The
research was based on the development of a data gathering system, enabling
the collection and storage of data from voice commands, facial expressions,
head and body movements from several patients with distinct disabilities such
as Cerebral Palsy. The wheelchair can be used in different situations in real
and simulated environments and a serious game was developed where
different tasks may be performed by users.
Data was analysed using knowledge discovery methods in order to create an
automatic patient classification system. Based on the classification system, a
methodology was developed enabling to select the best wheelchair interface
and command language for each patient.
Evaluation was performed in the context of Project FCT/RIPD/ADA/109636/
2009 – “IntellWheels – Intelligent Wheelchair with Flexible Multimodal
Interface”. Experiments were conducted, using a large set of patients suffering
from severe physical constraints in close collaboration with Escola Superior de
Tecnologia de Saúde do Porto and Associação do Porto de Paralisia Cerebral.
The experiments using the intelligent wheelchair were followed by user
questionnaires. The results were statistically analysed in order to prove the
effectiveness and usability of the adaptation of the Intelligent Wheelchair
multimodal interface to the user characteristics. The results obtained in a
simulated environment showed a 67 score on the system usability scale based
in the opinion of a sample of cerebral palsy patients with the most severe cases
IV and V of the Gross Motor Function Scale. It was also statistically
demonstrated that the data analysis system advised the use of an adapted
interface with higher evaluation than the one suggested by the occupational
therapists, showing the usefulness of defining a command language adapted to
each user. Experiments conducted with distinct control modes revealed the
users' preference for a shared control with an aid level taking into account the
level of constraint of the patient. In conclusion, this work demonstrates that it is
possible to adapt an intelligent wheelchair to the user with clear usability and
safety benefits
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