Collaborative wheelchair assistant

Many wheelchair users have problems in orienting themselves and maneuvering the wheelchair in congested environments. Dependent upon others to push them, they can feel powerless. The collaborative wheelchair assistant introduced in this paper may help these people to regain autonomy by providing motion guidance along software-defined paths corresponding to their ability. It enables the user to travel independently, maneuvering round sharp corners and along narrow passages much more easily without compromising speed or safety. This paper investigates the hardware, kinematics and control of the collaborative wheelchair and presents tools by which the user can easily define guiding paths and personalizes the control to a particular disability. The user can also modify the predefined path 'en route' using an elastic path planner, and so escape from danger using reflexes and anticipation. This low cost assistant can be realized on both manual and powered wheelchairs.