Developing Intelligent Wheelchairs for the Handicapped

A brief survey of research in the development of autonomy in wheelchairs is presented and AAI’s R&D to build a series of intelligent autonomous wheelchairs is discussed. A standardized autonomy management system that can be installed on readily available power chairs which have been well-engineered over the years has been developed and tested. A behavior-based approach was used to establish sufficient on-board autonomy at minimal cost and material usage, while achieving high efficiency, sufficient safety, transparency in appearance, and extendability. So far, the add-on system has been installed and tried on two common power wheelchair models. Initial results are highly encouraging.