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Advances in smart wheelchair technology

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DOI: 10.1109/ICNTE.2017.7947914

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 2017 International Conference on Nascent Technologies in the Engineering Field (ICNTE-2017)

Advances in Smart Wheelchair Technology

Sumit Desai, Dr. S. S. Mantha, Dr. V.M. Phalle

Department of Mechanical Engineering,
Veermata Jijabai Technological Institute,
Mumbai, India-19
sumitdesai1234@gmail.com

Abstract— A Survey of Disabled Persons by NSSO (2011)
reported that Disability is an important public health problem in
India. The wheelchair is topmost used assistive devices for
enhancing the personal mobility of disabled people. Power
wheelchairs are useful for those unable to propel a manual
wheelchair. The disabled people with visual acuity, lack of motor
skills and strength find difficult to use a power wheelchair. To
solve this problem, several researchers have used mobile robots
technologies to create smart wheelchairs. A smart wheelchair
typically contains a standard power wheelchair, a computer and
a collection of sensors. The recent development in research
areas such as computer science, robotics, Artificial Intelligence
and sensor technology broaden the range of features in smart
wheelchairs. This paper presents designs of different prototypes
of smart wheelchairs proposed by researchers. Future research
challenges in this field are recognized. Also, Directions for
upcoming research are discussed.
Keywords— Power wheelchairs, smart wheelchair, Sensors.
I. INTRODUCTION
Any restriction or lack of ability to perform an activity
within the range considered normal for the human, resulting
from impairment is termed as disability. Disability is an
important public health problem especially in India. National
Sample Survey Organization (NSSO) survey on Disability
(2002) estimated the disabled population in India as 18.5
million, which is 2.13 percent of the entire population. The
disabled population of India has increased by 22.4% from
2001 to 2011 [10] [24]. Historically, people with disabilities
have been denied fundamental human and civil rights. People
with disabilities have faced hardship when it comes to their
civil rights. Issues range from being denied appropriate
education, housing, transportation and more.
Assistive technology includes any piece of equipment or
device that helps to increase the independence of a disabled
person. Assistive technology is a term that contains assistive,
adaptive, rehabilitative devices for disabled people. Assistive
technology stimulates greater independence by empowering
disabled people to perform tasks.
The wheelchair is topmost used assistive devices for
enhancing the personal mobility of disabled people. A
wheelchair is a manually operated or power-driven device
designed primarily for use by an individual with a disability. A
manual wheelchair consists of a seat, footrests, two large
wheels at the back and two caster wheels at the front. The
hand rims attached to the wheels have a diameter slightly
smaller than the wheels. Most manual wheelchairs have push
handles at the top of the back to allow manual propulsion by
helping people. Lower limb disabled people are mainly
dependent on manual wheelchairs. In case of user-propelled
manual wheelchair, the controlling and driving of wheelchair
is done by disabled user. But, the hand work is less efficient
and more straining as compared to legs. Long interval use of
manual wheelchairs leads to lower physical capability of user,
hence it is not advisable.
Electric-powered wheelchair (EPW) is a wheelchair that
is propelled by means of an electric motor rather than manual
power. EPW is useful for those unable to propel a manual
wheelchair. EPW allows people to move within their home
and community. It can help maximize independence without
expending a lot of muscle work and energy. EPW offers the
advantage of roaming over a variety of terrain through the
choices of tire types and wheel positions. Rear wheel drive is
the most popular position in EPW which provides better
stability in both indoor and outdoor driving.
The disabled people with visual acuity, lack of motor
skills and lack of strength find it difficult to use power
wheelchairs independently. These disabled people often lack
independent mobility. They largely rely on a helping people to
push them. To solve this problem, several investigators have
used technologies initially developed for mobile robots to
create smart wheelchairs. A smart wheelchair typically
consists of a standard power wheelchair, computer and a
collection of sensors. Till today, Smart wheelchairs are
developed that provide navigation help to the user in a number
of different ways, such as assuring accident-free travel,
helping the performance of definite tasks, and autonomously
transporting the user between locations. The purpose smart
wheelchair is to reduce or eliminate the user's responsibility to
drive wheelchair.
This paper presents a brief history of wheelchairs
prototypes designs and the state of art concerning smart
wheelchairs.
II. SMART WHEELCHAIR
The recent development in research areas such as
computer science, robotics, Artificial Intelligence and sensor
technology broaden the range of possible applications that

978-1-5090-2794-1/17/$31.00 ©2017 IEEE

 2017 International Conference on Nascent Technologies in the Engineering Field (ICNTE-2017)
support disabled people. Smart wheelchairs extend the
capabilities of standard power wheelchair by introducing
control and navigational intelligence.
A smart wheelchair normally consists of a standard
powered wheelchair base, a computer and sensors. The Smart
wheelchair minimizes the physical and cognitive load required
in steering it. Smart Wheelchair is controlled by a computer
and a set of sensors. It based on techniques derived from
mobile robotics research. A computer processes the sensor
information and it generates the motor commands in an
automatic way or with a shared control. The control module of
smart wheelchair may consist of a standard wheelchair
joystick, speech based control, facial expressions or even gaze
control etc. The general architecture of a wheelchair
navigation control system is shown in Figure 1.
Fig. 1. General architecture of a smart wheelchair system
The localization module estimates the wheelchair position
with respect to a starting reference configuration. The sensors
provide direct measurement of the obstacles. The navigation
module generates the control variables, and the control module
translates these control variables into commands for the motor
[12].
Smart wheelchairs are developed for a variety of users.
Some smart wheelchairs are developed for users with
cognitive impairments with collision-avoidance methods used
to ensure that users do not accidentally select a drive
command that results in an accident. Some smart wheelchairs
are developed for severe motor disabled users. In such models,
the role of the smart wheelchair is to read small muscular
activations as high-level commands and implement them.
Such smart wheelchair designs typically work on techniques
from artificial intelligence.
Smart wheelchairs can be classified based on their
sensing devices, functionality, user interface, form factor and
level of autonomy:
1) Sensing devices – Sensors that have been used in
wheelchair such as ultrasound, infrared (IR), laser, contact,
and cameras. Every sensor has its strengths and weaknesses in
terms of cost, accuracy, and robustness in detecting obstacles.
Cameras are thought to be a promising option due to their
lower cost and wide field of view.
2) Functionality – Different functions have been designed in
smart wheelchairs such as collision avoidance, map based
navigation to locations, wall following, and virtual path
following.
3) User interface – Almost all smart wheelchairs use
joystick as interface, however, other user interfaces have
been developed to meet the needs of different disabled people.
Some include a vision based interface system, a voice
recognition system, facial expressions, gaze control.
4) Form factor – Some smart wheelchairs developed as
complete systems, while others use a robotic base with a
wheelchair seat attached. Some smart wheelchair models have
an add-on approach. The add-on approach permits the smart
system can be attached to different power wheelchairs.
5) Level of autonomy – Smart wheelchairs differ in how
much control is given to the driver. Some smart wheelchairs
have complete autonomy and able to drive a user to a pre-
mapped location by itself. Other Smart wheelchairs allow the
driver to control the wheelchair. These wheelchairs help the
user with navigation assistance, or help the user to avoid
obstacles.
III. ADVANCES IN SMART WHEELCHAIR AREA
During last three decades, several prototypes of smart
wheelchair have been developed. Numerous research works
have been published in this area. Table I present a list of some
selective smart wheelchair prototypes and describe their main
features.
Madarasz et al. [11] designed the first autonomous
wheelchairs for those with physical disabilities. It was
basically a self-navigating wheelchair for disabled people.
Wheelchair was integrated with sonars and was able to
navigate in corridor environments. It used a topological based
language for the navigation.
NavChair is designed by Levine and it has some
interesting capabilities, such as doorway passing, wall
following, automatic obstacle avoidance. NavChair was
developed for people suffered from different sorts of
impairments such as bad vision. It shared control decisions
with the user, and therefore it reduced the motoric and
cognitive requirements of the driver. The control decisions
regarded obstacle avoidance, safe approach to objects, and
maintenance of a given path. [5]
Tin Man I was developed Miller [27]. Tin Man I system
had three modes of operation which includes movement to a
specific point, human-guided with obstacle avoidance,
movement forward along a heading. Tin Man-II developed
with the addition of new features such as wall following,
backup, doorway passing, backtracking, and docking. By
adding some of Tin Man’s capabilities, the Maid project is
designed to navigate in two difficult and tiresome situations,
namely, wide crowded areas and narrow cluttered
environments.
Wheelesley [13] targeted disabled group that were
unable to drive a wheelchair with a normal joystick. Users
could use switches on a panel to select between different high
level commands such as stop, left, right, forward, or drive
backwards. Wheelesley was built on a wheelchair from the
 2017 International Conference on Nascent Technologies in the Engineering Field (ICNTE-2017)
KISS Institute for Practical Robotics. It was equipped with
infrared proximity sensors and ultrasonic range sensors. Two
Hall Effect sensors were used by the bumper in the front of the
vehicle.
In the project phases of TAO-1 [21] intelligent
wheelchair are presented. The chair had functions for driving
in narrow corridors, collision avoidance, and driving through
narrow doorways. Two colour cameras were attached to the
armrests, were used to identify colored landmarks in the front
of the vehicle. The user interfaces were a joystick, a
microphone and a keypad.With the voice the user was able to
activate functions like turn left, turn right, stop and drive.
G. Pires et. al. [20] designed RobChair in which a
power wheelchair equipped with five wheels. Two motorized
rear wheels and one extra rear wheel to increase the stability
of the vehicle. It could be operated by voice, keyboard, and/or
by an analog joystick. It had 12 infrared sensors and four
ultrasonic sensors. One tactile bumper was located in the front
of the vehicle. It used potential field methods for obstacle
avoidance.
The INRO (Intelligenter Rollstuhl) [19] main objective
was to implement known sensor technology on a powered
wheelchair, and to support disabled users in navigation and for
obstacle detection. The goal of the project was reliable
obstacle avoidance (including support for concave obstacles),
convoy driving with several wheelchairs, repetition of taught
routes, and giving information supply to nursing staff.
Luoson III [23] was equipped with a force reflection
joystick giving the user information about the environment.
Other equipment was a video conference camera, ultrasonic
sensors, a digital compass, a gyroscope and a microphone. It
had three operating modes (i) direct control, (ii) assistive
control, and (iii) autonomous control. In autonomous control
mode the user gave high level mission commands.
TetraNuta [22] was a research project aimed to develop a
controller, an add-on system, to standard commercial
wheelchairs. It provided autonomous navigation by landmarks
painted on the floor and landmarks in the form of radio
beacons. The goal was to keep the user as active as possible so
he/she does not lose his/her physical capabilities but also to
assist a user to drive with minimum effort and to avoid danger
and user fatigue.
Richard C. Simpson et al. [4] developed Hephaestus
smart wheelchair. The Hephaestus system integrated with
sixteen sonar sensors. Sensors were used to detect obstacles at
a maximum distance of one meter and a minimum distance of
8 cm from the wheelchair.
SIAMO [14] is a Spanish acronym for Integral System
for Assisted Mobility. It is a modular based wheelchair system
that enables different sorts of user inputs, such as
breathexpulsion, voice recognition, tracking of head motions,
electro-oculography, and joystick operations. For
environmental perception it uses active and passive vision,
ultrasonic sensors, and infrared range sensors. It is also
equipped with a display and a voice synthesizer for feedback
to the user.
Rolland I [18] is based on the wheelchair Genius
manufactured by the German company Meyra. It is equipped
with 27 sonar sensors and a laser range finder. It uses an
occupancy grid as a local obstacle map. The elementary skills
of the wheelchair make it a driving assistance and the user can
concentrate on the steering. The route assistant is useful for
large scale navigation, especially for users who suffers from
amnesia. It shares control with the user and the authors have
implemented safety layers and comfortable user navigation.
Maid [17] is based on an electrically powered
wheelchair manufactured by Meyra GmbH. It is equipped with
a modular sonar system, two infrared scanners based on the
Sharp GP2D02 distance sensor, and a laser range finder. It can
do narrow area navigation (NAN) and wide area navigation
(WAN). WAN mode is used when the wheelchair is located in
dynamically changing environments, such as crowded places.
The first VAHM [15], was developed on top of a
mobile robot base. The vehicle had two semi-autonomous
behaviors: wall following and obstacle avoidance. The second
VAHM was based on a modified power wheelchair. Three
local primitives were implemented: (i) free-space search, (ii)
direction following, (iii) wall following. The system used a
grid based method for path planning.
The WAD wheelchair [16] was built on top of a
CRUISER power wheelchair; from Invacare7. Project goals
were to achieve obstacle avoidance using IR distance sensors
and to implement limited autonomy. The obstacle avoidance
functionality is implemented using a dynamic approach with
repulsive and attractive contributions.
Richard C. Simpson et al. [6] designed and developed
Smart Wheelchair Component System (SWCS). It was a
modular based system for commercial wheelchairs. It supports
infra-red sensors, sonar sensors, and bump sensors. The
navigation assistance software runs on a computer which can
be interfaced through joysticks and switches. A Drop-Off
sensor is used to detect holes pits and stairs. With minimal
configuration, the system converts standard wheelchairs into
smart wheelchairs.
SPAM [28], Smart Power Assistance Module, is an add-on
system to manual wheelchairs aimed for blind people.
Different types of sensors can be used such as ultrasonic range
finders and IR sensors. It has torque sensors to measure the
manual forces applied to the wheels. The system can add
additional torque to assist a driver and reduce the risk of
fatigue of the user. The wheelchair was integrated with haptic
feedback system.
The 1st Intellwheels [2] prototype was developed with high
level control through a multimodal interface (voice, head
movements, joystick, keypad and simple facial expressions).
In 2012 a new prototype was developed at IntellWheels
project with better multimodal interface and ergonomics and
automatic patient adaptation competencies.
 2017 International Conference on Nascent Technologies in the Engineering Field (ICNTE-2017)

TABLE I
PROTOTYPES OF SMART WHEELCHAIR
Model Name /Name of
Sr. No. Year Sensors Used Form Operating Modes Design Features
Organization
It follows tracks laid out with magnetic ferrite
Automated-Guided
Infrared, Line Add-On Line Following, marker tape. Infrared Sensors used to stop
1. Wheelchair, 1992
Following Unit Wall following wheelchair when obstacles sensed in its path
NEC Corporation, Japan
[29].
Wheelesely was built on a wheelchair from the
Sonar, Infrared, Autonomous KISS Institute for Practical Robotics. It was
Wheelesely, Modified
Computer Vision, Navigation, equipped with ultrasonic range sensors and
2. MIT, U.S. 1995 Power
Dead Reckoning, Collision infrared proximity sensors and. Two hall effect
Wheelchair
Bump/Contact Avoidance sensors were used by the bumper in the front of
the wheelchair [13].
The Wheelchair had functions for driving
through narrow doorways, driving in narrow
Autonomous
corridors, and collision avoidance. Two color
Navigation,
Infrared, Computer cameras, attached to the armrests, were used to
TAO Applied AI Add-On Collision
3. 1996 Vision, identify colored landmarks in the front of the
Systems, Canada Unit Avoidance,
Bump/Contact vehicle. The user interfaces were a joystick, a
Wall Following,
keypad, and a microphone. With the voice the
Door Passage
user was able to activate utilities like stop, turn
left, turn right, and drive [21].
Autonomous Wheelchair offers shared-control navigation
Sonar, Laser
Navigation, (obstacle avoidance) and independent navigation
SENARIO TIDE, Rangefinder, Add-On
4. 1997 Collision based on internal map. It uses neural networks
Finland Bump/Contact, Unit
Avoidance for localization, and distributed control
Dead Reckoning
architecture [30].
Wheelchair could be controlled by voice,
RobChair keyboard, and/or by an analog joystick. It had 12
Modified Collision
University Sonar, Infrared, infrared sensors and four ultrasonic sensors. One
5. 1998 Power Avoidance,
of Coimbra, Bump/Contact tactile bumper was located in the front of the
Wheelchair Wall Following
Portugal wheelchair. It used potential field methods for
obstacle avoidance [20].
Main objective was to implement known sensor
technology on an electric wheelchair, and to
support disabled users in navigation and for
Sonar, Laser striper, Modified Autonomous
INRO FH Ravensburg- obstacle detection. The goal of the project was
6. 1998 Dead Reckoning, Power Navigation,
Weingarten, Germany reliable obstacle avoidance (including support for
GPS Wheelchair Target tracking
concave obstacles), convoy driving with several
wheelchairs, repetition of taught routes, and
giving information supply to nursing staff [19].
Sonar, Infrared,
Intelligent Wheelchair
Computer Vision Autonomous Wheelchair used as test bed for research into
7. University of Texas at 1998 ---
Bump/Contact, Navigation spatial representation and reasoning.
Austin, U.S.
Dead Reckoning
Rolland I wheelchair is based on the wheelchair
Collision
Genius manufactured by the German company
Sonar, Infrared, Avoidance,
Modified Meyra. It is equipped with 27 sonar sensors and a
Rolland University Computer Vision, Wall Following,
8. 1999 Power laser range finder. It uses an occupancy grid as a
of Bremen, Germany Dead Reckoning, Door Passage,
Wheelchair local obstacle map. The elementary skill of the
Bump/Contact Trajectory
wheelchair makes it a driving assistance and the
Playback
user can focus on the steering [18].
Tin Man I wheelchair had three operation modes:
human guided with obstacle avoidance, move
Autonomous
TinMan KIPR, U.S. Sonar, Infrared, forward along a given heading, and move to an
Add-On Navigation,
9. (KISS Institute for 1999 Bump/Contact, anticipated position. The Tin Man II capabilities
Unit Collision
Practical Robotics) Dead Reckoning included backup, backtracking, wall following,
Avoidance
doorway passing, and docking to objects such as
tables [27].
Wheelchair user can reproduce routes taught to
CCPWNS system by manually driving wheelchair from
Dead Reckoning, Add-On Trajectory
10. University of Notre 2000 starting point to end point. Uses machine vision
Computer Vision Unit Playback
Dame, U.S. to recognize landmarks in environment. No
obstacle avoidance mode [31].
Luoson III wheelchair was equipped with a force
reflection joystick giving the user information
about the environment. Other equipment was a
Sonar, Computer
Luoson III Modified video conference camera, ultrasonic sensors, a
Vision, Dead
11. National Chung Cheng 1999 Power Target Tracking digital compass, a gyroscope, and a microphone.
Reckoning,
University, Taiwan Wheelchair It had three operating modes (i) direct control,
Compass
(ii) assistive control, and (iii) autonomous
control. In autonomous control mode the user
gave high level mission commands [23].
 2017 International Conference on Nascent Technologies in the Engineering Field (ICNTE-2017)
Wheelchair provided autonomous navigation by
landmarks painted on the floor and landmarks in
Tetra Nauta, Infrared, Computer the form of radio beacons. The goal was to keep
Add-On Autonomous
12. Universityof Seville, 1999 Vision the user as active as possible so he/she does not
Unit Navigation
Spain Bump/Contact lose his/her physical capabilities but also to assist
a user to drive with minimum effort and to avoid
danger and user fatigue [22].
The Hephaestus system had sixteen sonar
Hephaestus TRAC Labs, Sonar, Add-On Collision sensors, configured to detect obstacles at a
13. 1999
U.S. Bump/Contact Unit Avoidance maximum distance of one meter and a minimum
distance of 8 cm from the wheelchair [4].
Wheelchair can independently travel to endpoint
Voice-cum-Auto Steer Line Following, Modified
Autonomous based on internal map or by following tape tracks
14. Wheelchair CEERI, 2000 Infrared, Dead Power
Navigation on floor. Infrared sensors were used to prevent
India Reckoning Wheelchair
collisions and follow tape tracks.
Maid Wheelchair is based on an electrically
Sonar, Infrared, powered wheelchair manufactured by Meyra
Modified Autonomous
MAid University of Ulm, Laser Rangefinder, GmbH. It is equipped with a modular sonar
15. 2001 Power Navigation, Target
Germany Gyroscope, Dead system, two infrared scanners based on the Sharp
Wheelchair Tracking
Reckoning GP2D02 distance sensor, and a laser range finder
[17].
It was a modular based wheelchair system that
Avoidance,
enables different sorts of user inputs, such as
Wall Following,
Sonar, Infrared, breathexpulsion, voice recognition, tracking of
Autonomous
Computer vision, head motions, electro-oculography, and joystick
SIAMO, University Add-On Navigation,
16. 2001 Dead Reckoning, operations. For environmental perception it uses
of Alcala, Spain Unit Collision
Laser Rangefinder, active and passive vision, ultrasonic sensors, and
Door Passage,
Bump/Contact infrared range sensors. It was also equipped with
Docking, Target
a display and a voice synthesizer for feedback to
tracking
the user [14].
It was built on top of a mobile robot base. The
Autonomous vehicle had two semi-autonomous behaviors:
Navigation, wall following and obstacle avoidance. The
Sonar, Infrared, Modified
VAHM University de Collision second VAHM was based on a modified power
17. 2001 Bump/Contact, Power
Metz, France Avoidance, wheelchair. Three local primitives were
Dead Reckoning Wheelchair
Wall Following implemented: (i) free-space search (ii) direction
following (iii) wall following. The system used a
grid based method for path planning [15].
Wheelchair used cameras to recognize facial
Modified
Mr. HURI ,Yonsei Sonar, Computer Collision gestures from the user. It also receives input from
18. 2002 Power
University, Korea Vision Avoidance EMG (on neck) or voice commands. It uses sonar
Wheelchair
sensors to avoid obstacles.
It shared control decisions with the user, and
therefore it reduced the motoric and cognitive
requirements of the driver. The control decisions
Collision
Modified regarded obstacle avoidance, safe approach to
NavChair University Sonar, Dead Avoidance,
19. 2002 Power objects, and maintenance of a given path. Other
of Michigan, U.S. Reckoning Wall Following
Wheelchair implemented functions were wall following and
Door Passage
doorway passing. Can automatically choose
between multiple task-specific operating modes
[5].
The WAD wheelchair is built on top of a
CRUISER power wheelchair, from Invacare7.
Autonomous Project missions were to achieve obstacle
Modified
WAD Project, C.N.R.S., Infrared, Dead Navigation, avoidance using IR distance sensors and to
20. 2002 Power
Marseille, France Reckoning Collision implement limited autonomy. The obstacle
Wheelchair
Avoidance avoidance functionality is implemented using a
dynamic approach with repulsive and attractive
contributions [16].
The Collaborative Wheelchair Assistant controls
a manual wheelchair with small motorized
wheels placed in contact with the rear tires. It
CWA (Manual) National Modified limits the user to travel after Software distinct
Trajectory
21. University of Singapore, 2002 Dead Reckoning Power paths. Uses dead reckoning to retain wheelchair
Playback
Singapore Wheelchair on prescribed path. The user can leave path to
avoid obstacles, and controls speed of the
wheelchair along path. The path can be defined
with the GUI or by walk-through.
User provides input to system with head
gestures, interpreted by inward-facing camera.
Collision Have two cameras, one facing toward the user,
Intelligent Wheelchair Sonar, Computer Modified
Avoidance, second facing forward. Outward-facing camera
22. System 2003 Vision, Dead Power
Wall Following, tracks targets and allows user to control a
Osaka University, Japan Reckoning Wheelchair
Target Tracking wheelchair with gestures when out of the
wheelchair. Shares navigation with user (obstacle
avoidance).
 2017 International Conference on Nascent Technologies in the Engineering Field (ICNTE-2017)

Modified Wheelchair used machine vision to interpret

Laser Rangefinder, Collision
23. Watson NAIST, Japan 2003 Power user’s gaze for control of wheelchair. Uses lasers
Computer Vision Avoidance
Wheelchair to identify obstacles [32].
Provides several modes of operation, including
“travel to target” mode that uses a deictic
interface, hallway navigation, door passage,
Autonomous
three-point-turn, and collision avoidance.
Navigation,
Infrared, Laser Machine vision and laser range finder fused to
SmartChair, Modified Collision
Rangefinder, Dead calculate depth information. It is equipped with a
24. University of 2003 Power Avoidance,
Reckoning, projector that projects a virtual keyboard onto the
Pennsylvania, U.S. Wheelchair Wall Following,
Computer Vision table of the wheelchair. It has six behaviors
Door Passage,
(control modes): hallway navigation, three-point
Three-point Turn
turn (reversing and turning), obstacle avoidance,
navigate through a doorway, turn while avoiding
obstacle, and go to a specific goal [23].
Smart Wheelchair Component System (SWCS)
is a modular based system for commercial
wheelchairs. It supports sonar sensors, infra-red
sensors, and bump sensors. The navigation
assistance software runs on a laptop computer
SWCS AT Sciences, Sonar, Infrared, Add-On Collision
25. 2004 which can be interfaced through switches and
U.S. Bump/Contact Unit Avoidance
analog joysticks. A Drop-Off sensor is used to
detect pits, stairs, and holes. With negligible
configuration the system converts standard
wheelchairs from several different manufacturers
into smart wheelchairs [6].
Different types of sensors can be used such as
ultrasonic range finders and IR sensors. It has
torque sensors to measure the manual forces
applied to the wheels. The system can add
supplementary torque to assist a driver and
Sonar, Infrared,
SPAM, AT Sciences, Add-On Collision reduce the risk of fatigue of the user. The
26. 2004 Bump/Contact,
U.S. Unit Avoidance wheelchair is equipped with haptic feedback
Dead Reckoning
regarding the environment surrounding the
wheelchair. Prevents wheelchair from colliding
with obstacles. Is compatible with multiple
brands of wheelchairs and does not require any
changes to underlying power wheelchair [28].
Sonar sensors prevent the vehicle from hitting an
Sonar, 4 directions
object. Fully autonomous mode: PALMA
and 1 stop button.
Modified Fully autonomous navigates with no user input and has no set
Visual
27. PALMA, Spain 2005 Power or course. Semi-autonomous: the user has various
(LED) and audio
Wheelchair semiautonomous levels of control over starting/stopping and
feedback for
direction of travel. Visual (LED) and audio
collisions
feedback for collisions.
Intelligent Modified Wheelchair dynamically detects obstacles in the
Planar laser and
28. Wheelchair, University 2010 Power Semi-autonomous environment and offers to the user directions of
wheel odometers
of Zaragoza, Spain Wheelchair travel that will avoid the obstacles.
False or missed collisions occurred due to gaps
Anti-collision Skirt, Modified
Low force contact in the skirt, bumps on the floor, or objects above
29. University of 2011 Power Semi-autonomous
sensor skirt the skirt. Reception and use of the wheelchair
Toronto , Canada Wheelchair
was mixed.

chair considering several disabilities without negotiating the

IV. DISCUSSION
Till today, a considerable amount of work has been done in
the field of smart wheelchairs but small amount of attention
has given to user centric wheelchair design. These prototypes
have designed without considering user expectations and
caregivers in their design activities. Further, while integrating
sensors and computational units to create the smart
wheelchair; several projects compromised the user comfort
and the wheelchair normal usability. Usually, these projects
have inflexible hardware and software designs which are
unaffordable for most potential users. Thus, the research
direction should aims at build user centered a smart wheel
user comfort. Design of a smart wheelchair is a fruitful
research area for many years to come. Design of Smart
wheelchairs offers an opportunity to study new user input
methods, human-robot communication, adaptive or shared
control. Smart wheelchair models will be good test beds for
robot control architectures. There are several difficulties
regarding sensor technology that must be solved before smart
wheelchairs can extensively accepted by the user population.
A noteworthy issue is the cost against accuracy equilibrium
that must be made with existing sensors. Study of inexpensive,
advanced, lightweight sensors will be a fruitful research area
to increase the acceptance level of smart wheelchair. Smart
 2017 International Conference on Nascent Technologies in the Engineering Field (ICNTE-2017)
wheelchairs provide an excellent test bed for bio-medical
sensors.
REFERENCES
[1] R. C. Simpson, E. F. LoPresti, and R. A. Cooper, “How many people
would benefit from a smart wheelchair?” Journal of Rehabilitation
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