Shared Control for Intelligent Wheelchairs: an Implicit Estimation of the User Intention

Elderly and disabled people can experience considerable difficulties when driving an electric wheelchair, especially if they do not possess the fine steering capacities that are required to perform ‘common’ manoeuvres, like avoiding obstacles, docking at tables, driving through doors, etc. This paper describes a possible approach to equip the wheelchair with an intelligent controller that performs low-level assistance, so wheelchair control is shared between the user and this controller. For proper operation, the controller should have a good idea of what the user wants in a particular situation, or in other words what his/her intention could be. This text focuses on an ‘implicit’ estimation of the user’s intention.