Fuzzy-EKF Controller for Intelligent Wheelchair Navigation

Abstract The electric wheelchair gives more autonomy and facilitates movement for handicapped persons in the home or in a hospital. Among the problems faced by these persons are collision with obstacles, the doorway, the navigation in a hallway, and reaching the desired place. These problems are due to the difficult manipulation of an electric wheelchair, especially for persons with severe disabilities. Hence, we tried to add more functionality to the standard wheelchair in order to increase movement range, security, environment access, and comfort. In this context, we have developed an automatic control method for indoor navigation. The proposed control system is mounted on the electric wheelchair for the handicapped, developed in the research laboratory CEMLab (Control and Energy Management Laboratory-Tunisia). The proposed method is based on two fuzzy controllers that ensure target achievement and obstacle avoidance. Furthermore, an extended Kalman filter was used to provide precise measurements and more effective data fusion localization. In this paper, we present the simulation and experimental results of the wheelchair navigation system.