Wheelchair-Based System Adapted to Disabled People with Very Low Mobility

This paper presents a guidance system for wheelchairs, applied to severe motor disabilities, compatible with the commercial control systems. This allows adapting the interfaces developed for electric wheelchairs in common use, achieving a low cost of implementation. Several different interfaces adapted to fit the residual capabilities of various types of physical disabilities have been developed. The necessary electronic equipment has been built, the microcontroller’s software has been programmed and the whole system has been tested to verify its operation. This equipment will replace conventional joystick function in a wheelchair. The interfaces are assembled on a commercial wheelchair and the performance of the whole system has been tested with some of the interfaces in control subjects. The tests were performed using a suitable protocol for this type of application. The ability of users to perform a predefined task and their ability to learn was measured, according to the protocol. Promising results were obtained in the execution of the test.