Wheelchair for physically disabled people with voice, ultrasonic and infrared sensor control

This paper describes a wheelchair for physically disabled people developed within the UMIDAM I Project. A dependent-user recognition voice system and ultrasonic and infrared sensor systems has been integrated in this wheelchair. In this way we have obtained a wheelchair which can be driven with using voice commands and with the possibility of avoiding obstacles and downstairs or hole detection. The wheelchair has also been developed to allow autonomous driving (for example, following walls). The project, in which two prototypes have been produced, has been carried out totally in the Electronics Department of the University of Alcalfi (Spain). It has been financed by the ONCE 2. Electronic system configuration, a sensor system, a mechanical model, control (low level control, control by voice commands), voice recognition and autonomous control are considered. The results of the experiments carried out on the two prototypes are also given.