An Intelligent Wheelchair Using Situation Awareness and Obstacle Detection

In this paper, we develop an Intelligent Wheelchair (IW) system for the people with various disabilities. The main function of our system is three-fold: 1) user intention recognition, 2) obstacle detection and avoidance, and 3) situation awareness. For this, it is composed of an electric powered wheelchair, two cameras, 8 ultrasonic sensors, laptop computer and DAQ board. Through analyzing the images obtained from a PC camera, it allows user for controlling the IW using their face movement and mouth shape. In addition to prevent the dangerous situation such as collision with people or traffic vehicles, the hybrid navigation system and situation awareness are simultaneously executed. Using a camera and 8 range sensors, our IW can detect various obstacles and find the safe path to avoid them. In particular, by analyzing the texture properties of the images, it can classify the current situation where a user is standing on as sidewalk, roadway and traffic intersection, which prevents the collisions of vehicle at the traffic intersection. Some participants tested our system and then the results show that it can provide a user friendly, convenient interface and safety wheelchair control.