Adapted Control Methods for Cerebral Palsy Users of an Intelligent Wheelchair

Abstract

-The development of an intelligent wheelchair (IW) platform that may be easily adapted to any commercial electric powered wheelchair and aid any person with special mobility needs is the main objective of the IntelllWheels project. To be able to achieve this main objective, three distinct control methods were implemented in the IW: manual, shared and automatic. Several algorithms were developed for each of these control methods. This paper presents three of the most significant of those algorithms with emphasis on the shared control method. Experiments were performed by users suffering from cerebral palsy, using a realistic simulator, in order to validate the approach. The experiments revealed the importance of using shared (aided) controls for users with severe disabilities. The patients still felt having complete control over the wheelchair movement when using a shared control at a 50% level and thus this control type was very well accepted. Thus it may be used in intelligent wheelchairs since it is able to correct the direction in case of involuntary movements of the user but still gives him a sense of complete control over the IW movement.

Boccia game simulator: Serious game adapted for people with disabilities

“…Of all MMIs, the one already developed for the “IntellWheels” project (one of the main projects associated with this one) will probably be the chosen one because a user can adapt a command language to control electronic devices (Oviatt, ). The project quoted above consists of an intelligent wheelchair simulation and visualization platform that can be adapted to any commercial wheelchair and thus assist any person with special mobility needs (Braga, Petry, Moreira, & Reis, ; Faria, Ferreira, Reis, Lau, & Petry, ; Faria, Ferreira, et al, ; Faria, Reis, & Lau, ; Faria, Reis, & Lau, ; Faria, Reis, & Lau, ; Faria, Reis, & Lau, ; Faria, Reis, & Lau, ; Faria, Reis, Lau, Soares, & Vasconcelos, ; Faria, Reis, Teixeira, Faias, & Lau, ; Faria, Silva, Faias, Reis, & Lau, ; Faria, Vasconcelos, Reis, & Lau, ; Faria, Vasconcelos, et al, ; Faria et al, ; Reis, Faria, Vasconcelos, & Lau, .…”

“…Of all MMIs, the one already developed for the "IntellWheels" project (one of the main projects associated with this one) will probably be the chosen one because a user can adapt a command language to control electronic devices (Oviatt, 2003b). The project quoted above consists of an intelligent wheelchair simulation and visualization platform that can be adapted to any commercial wheelchair and thus assist any person with special mobility needs (Braga, Petry, Moreira, & Reis, 2009;Faria, Ferreira, Reis, Lau, & Petry, 2013;Faria, Ferreira, et al, 2013;Faria, Reis, & Lau, 2014a;Faria, Reis, & Lau, 2014b;Faria, Reis, & Lau, 2014c;Faria, Reis, Lau, Soares, & Vasconcelos, 2013;Faria, Reis, Teixeira, Faias, & Lau, 2013;Faria, Silva, Faias, Reis, & Lau, 2014;Faria, Vasconcelos, Reis, & Lau, 2012;Reis, Faria, Vasconcelos, & Lau, 2015. Finally, all these choices were decided by thinking in the main characteristic of the game, which is to create the most realistic Boccia simulator possible. To make that achievable, access to a real Boccia ramp was provided so that physical measurements could be made, both of the several balls available at the different trajectories attainable by the many positions of the ramp, because the ramp can have multiple angles vertically and horizontally.…”

A Serious Games Platform for Cognitive Rehabilitation with Preliminary Evaluation

“…A multimodal natural approach enables an interactive environment that is more flexible, appealing, motivating and integrative through various interaction technologies. Relevant examples of the use of multimodal interfaces using the concept of an intelligent wheelchair can be found in [25,[28][29][30][31][32][33][34]. In these studies, the intelligent wheelchair is controlled using high-level commands in a multimodal interface that uses voice, facial expressions, head movements and joystick as the main input forms and users have the option to choose the input type that best fits their needs, thereby enabling them to increase their safety and comfort.…”

A Wheelchair Control System Using Human-Machine Interaction: Single-Modal and Multimodal Approaches

“…Because of the lack of the nerve supply, every injured part of the human body will be paralyzed (e.g. causing chaired people) [18,19]. Thus, there is an emerging need to provide help for these people to elevate their capabilities to practice their daily life routines by them-selves without others' assistance.…”