An evolutionary navigation system for wheelchairs

Citation

(2002), "An evolutionary navigation system for wheelchairs", Industrial Robot, Vol. 29 No. 3. https://doi.org/10.1108/ir.2002.04929cab.003

An evolutionary navigation system for wheelchairs

An evolutionary navigation system for wheelchairs

Keywords: Navigation

A Tokyo-based company is spearheading an effort to develop a new navigation system for wheelchairs. Like car navigation systems, it will display a route between the user's current location and the destination on a screen. However, unlike conventional systems the route displayed must be free of obstacles, such as slopes, steps, bumps, curbs, etc., which wheelchairs are not able to traverse. You need a special "barrier-free" map that distinguishes wheelchair-passable and non-passable roads. Since this kind of map is not commercially available, how to create the map is the most critical issue for wheelchair navigation.

In the past, some attempts were made to provide wheelchair users with "barrier-free" information, but failed to be used practically, since too much human effort must be devoted to create it and, even if once created, no practical system will be available to maintain and up-date it. The new system has come up with an elegant solution to this problem and the effectiveness of this new approach has been verified by field tests. The developer believes that with this system, wheelchair users will be able to go out and about with ease and without worry, thus a first step toward a barrier free society will be realized. In the future it will also be useful for automatic navigation for outdoor mobile robots such as "seeing-eye dog" robots, guide robots etc.

Video and image processing equipment maker For-A Ltd has been developing a wheelchair navigation system under financial support from New Media Development Association, an external organization which is part of the Japanese Government's Ministry of Economics, Trade and Industry (METI). The system consists of a central computer, which stores the barrier-free map and information, and satellite electronics aboard on wheelchairs (Plate 3), which are connected via cellular phone networks. The satellite electronics aboard the wheelchair consist of a global positioning system (GPS), a personal computer, sensing devices for slopes (two-dimensional), acceleration, direction, etc. and a manually operated camera and a manual input device. The wheelchair not only receives navigation information from the central computer, but also transmits automatically the current position (thus, the route it has actually traveled) and data regarding slopes, steps, bumps, etc. which are to be registered in the barrier-free database resident inside the computer. Once a routing has been successfully traversed by a wheelchair, it will be shared and utilized by all other subsequent users. Thus a barrier-free map will be created, maintained and updated and self-multiplied as you use it. In addition to the automatically collected data, you have options to input manually, useful information such as location of wheelchair-accessible toilets, photos of obstacles, etc.

When the user states a destination into a microphone the system responds by pinpointing the user's current location and a wheelchair traversable route to the destination on a monitor screen. At the same time information regarding slopes, steps, bumps and curbs is also displayed. On request, additional information, such as location of wheelchair-accessible toilets and its photo appearance, may also be shown.

Since starting in April 2000 and in the following two years, prototypes have been developed; and since October 2001 they have been undergoing field tests in cooperation with the local administrative office, Setagaya Ward of Tokyo and a non-profitable organisation (NPO) to support handicapped people, called Hands Setagaya.

Observers foresee life becoming much easier for elderly/handicapped people if the system is put into practical use.

Plate 3 The wheelchair with navigation system