Human-in-the-Loop Cyber Physical Systems: Modular Designs for Semi-Autonomous Wheelchair Navigation

This project involves the design and development of a prototyping platform and open design framework for a semi-autonomous wheelchair to realize a human-in-the-loop cyber physical system as an assistive technology. The system is designed to assist physically locked-in individuals in navigating indoor environments through the use of modular sensor, communication, and control designs. This enables the user to share control with the wheelchair and allows the system to operate semi-autonomously with human-in-the-loop. The Wheelchair Add-on Modules (WAMs) developed for use in this project are platform-independent and facilitate development and application of semi- autonomous functionality

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

Implementation of target tracking in Smart Wheelchair Component System

Independent mobility is critical to individuals of any age. While the needs of many individuals with disabilities can be satisfied with power wheelchairs, some members of the disabled community find it difficult or impossible to operate a standard power wheelchair. This population includes, but is not limited to, individuals with low vision, visual field neglect, spasticity, tremors, or cognitive deficits. To meet the needs of this population, our group is involved in developing cost effective modularly designed Smart Wheelchairs. Our objective is to develop an assistive navigation system which will seamlessly integrate into the lifestyle of individual with disabilities and provide safe and independent mobility and navigation without imposing an excessive physical or cognitive load. The Smart Wheelchair Component System (SWCS) can be added to a variety of commercial power wheelchairs with minimal modification to provide navigation assistance. Previous versions of the SWCS used acoustic and infrared rangefinders to identify and avoid obstacles, but these sensors do not lend themselves to many desirable higher-level behaviors. To achieve these higher level behaviors we integrated a Continuously Adapted Mean Shift (CAMSHIFT) target tracking algorithm into the SWCS, along with the Minimal Vector Field Histogram (MVFH) obstacle avoidance algorithm. The target tracking algorithm provides the basis for two distinct operating modes: (1) a "follow-the-leader" mode, and (2) a "move to stationary target" mode.The ability to track a stationary or moving target will make smart wheelchairs more useful as a mobility aid, and is also expected to be useful for wheeled mobility training and evaluation. In addition to wheelchair users, the caregivers, clinicians, and transporters who provide assistance to wheelchair users will also realize beneficial effects of providing safe and independent mobility to wheelchair users which will reduce the level of assistance needed by wheelchair users

Development of a Modular Real-time Shared-control System for a Smart Wheelchair

In this paper, we propose a modular navigation system that can be mounted on a regular powered wheelchair to assist disabled children and the elderly with autonomous mobility and shared-control features. The lack of independent mobility drastically affects an individual's mental and physical health making them feel less self-reliant, especially children with Cerebral Palsy and limited cognitive skills. To address this problem, we propose a comparatively inexpensive and modular system that uses a stereo camera to perform tasks such as path planning, obstacle avoidance, and collision detection in environments with narrow corridors. We avoid any major changes to the hardware of the wheelchair for an easy installation by replacing wheel encoders with a stereo camera for visual odometry. An open source software package, the Real-Time Appearance Based Mapping package, running on top of the Robot Operating System (ROS) allows us to perform visual SLAM that allows mapping and localizing itself in the environment. The path planning is performed by the move base package provided by ROS, which quickly and efficiently computes the path trajectory for the wheelchair. In this work, we present the design and development of the system along with its significant functionalities. Further, we report experimental results from a Gazebo simulation and real-world scenarios to prove the effectiveness of our proposed system with a compact form factor and a single stereo camera

CES-514 Market Evaluation for Colchester Catalyst on the use of Robotic Wheelchairs

1.2 What is a Robotic Wheelchair?........................... 1 1.3 Type of Marketing Research used and sources of data...............

DEVELOPMENT OF MULTI-MODAL CONTROL INTERFACES FOR A SEMI-AUTONOMOUS WHEELCHAIR

The purpose of the project is to assist users with different levels of disabilities to control a semi-autonomous wheelchair. A semi-autonomous wheelchair developed by RIVeR Lab is able to perform assistive control to avoid obstacles and cliffs and to follow walls. With a joystick control adapter, the basic joystick of the wheelchair can take commands directly from computers. In addition to joystick mechanical adapter control, human-machine interaction and control methods such as voice and electromyography (EMG) are deployed, with the aim of enabling people with different levels and types of disabilities to control the wheelchair. These non-physical motion based user control interfaces allow people with limited mobility to control the wheelchair with a desired accuracy

Obstacle Avoidance and Path Planning for Smart Indoor Agents

Although joysticks on motorized wheelchairs have improved the lives of so many, patients with Parkinson\u27s, stroke, limb injury, or vision problems need alternate solutions. Further, navigating wheelchairs through cluttered environments without colliding into objects or people can be a challenging task. Due to these reasons, many patients are reliant on a caretaker for daily tasks. To aid persons with disabilities, the Machine Intelligence Laboratory Personal Electronic Transport (Milpet), provides a solution. Milpet is an effective access wheelchair with speech recognition capabilities. Commands such as ``Milpet, take me to room 237’’ or ``Milpet, move forward’’ can be given. As Milpet executes the patient’s commands, it will calculate the optimal route, avoid obstacles, and recalculate a path if necessary. This thesis describes the development of modular obstacle avoidance and path planning algorithms for indoor agents. Due to the modularity of the system, the navigation system is expandable for different robots. The obstacle avoidance system is configurable to exhibit various behaviors. According to need, the agent can be influenced by a path or the environment, exhibit wall following or hallway centering, or just wander in free space while avoiding obstacles. This navigation system has been tested under various conditions to demonstrate the robustness of the obstacle and path planning modules. A measurement of obstacle proximity and destination proximity have been introduced for showing the practicality of the navigation system. The capabilities introduced to Milpet are a big step in giving the independence and privacy back to so many who are reliant on care givers or loved ones

A Dynamic Localized Adjustable Force Field Method for Real-time Assistive Non-holonomic Mobile Robotics

Providing an assistive navigation system that augments rather than usurps user control of a powered wheelchair represents a significant technical challenge. This paper evaluates an assistive collision avoidance method for a powered wheelchair that allows the user to navigate safely whilst maintaining their overall governance of the platform motion. The paper shows that by shaping, switching and adjusting localized potential fields we are able to negotiate different obstacles by generating a more intuitively natural trajectory, one that does not deviate significantly from the operator in the loop desired-trajectory. It can also be seen that this method does not suffer from the local minima problem, or narrow corridor and proximity oscillation, which are common problems that occur when using potential fields. Furthermore this localized method enables the robotic platform to pass very close to obstacles, such as when negotiating a narrow passage or doorway