Design and Implementation of Low Cost Intelligent Wheelchair

ABSTRACT:

               There are patients who have lost control of both arms and legs, as a result of higher level spinal cord injury or brain and nervous system disorder. These kinds of patients can't use the standard wheelchair which depends on the arms muscular force to move the wheelchair. At the same time, they can't use the electrically powered wheelchair which is controlled by joystick. So these types of patients still need the help of another person to move their wheelchair from one place to another. Many researchers have proposed different methods to control the wheelchair. One of the possible solutions for them is to use their voice to control the wheelchair. An intelligent wheelchair is developed to help these types of patients by using speech recognition system to control the movement of wheelchair in different directions by using voice commands and also the simple movement of the patient's fingers with keypad control. Automatic obstacle detection is done using an ultrasound system which helps the patient to apply a temporary brake in case any obstacle suddenly comes in the way of the wheelchair. The intelligent wheelchair is designed in such a way that it can be controlled easily with minimum effort from the patient and also provides protection from obstacle collision if any voice mistake happens. The main advantage is the low cost design which allows more number of patients to use this type of wheelchair.