An assistive navigation system for wheelchairs based upon mobile robot obstacle avoidance

The NavChair assistive navigation system is being developed to meet the needs of multiply handicapped people who are unable to operate available wheelchair systems. The NavChair Project was conceived as an application of mobile robot obstacle avoidance to a power wheelchair. During the course of this project, the vector field histogram (VFH) method has been adapted for use in human-machine systems and the shortcomings of the wheelchair platform have been overcome. This paper briefly reviews the VFH method, describes interesting aspects of its application to a power wheelchair, and presents an experimental evaluation of system performance. Finally, unresolved problems of obstacle avoidance in human-operated vehicles are discussed.<
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