Enhanced Control to Improve Navigation and Manipulation of Power Wheelchairs

Our team developed a mobile wheelchair control kit designed to allow power wheelchair users the ability to maneuver their wheelchair without the need to manipulate a joystick with their hands. A smartphone and its internal accelerometer sensor was used to detect the vector of gravity, and thus detecting the pitch and roll. The wheelchair control system was tested with the phone attached in three mounting positions: hand held, hat and arm band and compared to the manipulation using the wheelchair joystick. To determine the viability of the commercialization of this kit as well as which features to further develop, a customer discovery was completed. Over a hundred interviews of power wheelchairs users, therapists, care takers, manufacturers, dealers, and assistive technology professionals were conducted at clinics, tradeshows, disabilities support groups, and rehabilitation organizations. After discovering the needs of the customers, collision avoidance was implemented into the control kit and back up cameras were added into the smart phone app to allow for the camera view to be seen without additional screens attached to the wheelchair. Future work will test these new design features and will concentrate on removing excess weight from the control kit. Improving the ease of installation of the kit to any power wheelchair will also be a focus.