Improving Steering of a Powered Wheelchair Using an Expert System to Interpret Hand Tremor

Research is described that determines the direction that a powered wheelchair will take, using the Preference Ranking Organization METHod for Enrichment of Evaluations II (PROMETHEE II). This is the first time that this sort of decision making has been used in this type of application. A user suggests a desired direction and speed, and the decision-making system suggests a safe direction for a wheelchair. The two are mixed and the wheelchair then tends to avoid obstacles. The inputs come from a powered wheelchair joystick and two ultrasonic transducers fixed onto the wheelchair and the final direction is a mix of the desired direction and a direction that moves the wheelchair away from obstacles. The arrangement assists a disabled driver to steer their wheelchairs. It uses a systematic decision-making process and this paper presents the process and a new way of selecting a best compromise direction. Sensitivity analysis is employed to explore potentially suitable directions as uncertainty and risk may be present. A suitable direction is selected that provides a robust solution. The user is able to override the suggestions by the PROMETHEE II system by holding the joystick in a position.

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“…The sensors were similar to those explained in [23]. They were attached to the bodywork on top of the driving wheels [24].…”

Section: The Ultrasonic Sensorsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Selecting a Best Compromise Direction for a Powered Wheelchair Using PROMETHEE

Haddad

Sanders

2019

IEEE Trans. Neural Syst. Rehabil. Eng.

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“…Ultrason ics have been extensively used for mobile robots and tele-operated mobile robots [2], [9] and [22][23][24][25][26] and wheelchairs [27][28][29][30][31][32][33]. Ultrasonics were selected because they were straightforward, robust and trouble-free.…”

Section: The Tele-op Erate D Mobile Robotmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…T ele-operation is described in [32] and guided vehicles in [33] and two influential papers are by Sheridan [8] and [34].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Tele-operator performance and their perception of system time lags when completing mobile robot tasks

Sanders

Langner

Gegov

et al. 2016

2016 9th International Conference on Human System Interactions (HSI)

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E ffects of motion lag on the capability of a teleope rate d mobile-robot operator are investigated. Lags can occur through communication delays as telc-operated mobile robots work at a distance or becau se of a lack of parallel computing powe r as robots are enhanced with add itional systems. This work conce ntrates on time lag in a tele-operated mobile robot syste m and inve stigates when a mobile robot operator might be gin to pe rceive a lag in the movement of a mobile robot. A thre shold of pe rmissible lag is established for mobile robot ope rators that re lates to the maximum time lag before an ope rator notice d a lag.

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“…Unstructured environments can make operation more difficult for mobile-robots [20][21][22][23][24][25][26]. Tele-operators control and directed their mobile robots from a place of safety [27]. A wheeled robot is studied in this paper because that is still the most common type [22][23][24]28].…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Tele-operation has especially been explored for maintenance and operation in hostile, foul or dangerous environments [27]. A human tele-operator is usually better at driving than a computer so the systems described here attempt to assist a human tele-operator.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Using confidence factors to share control between a mobile robot tele-operater and ultrasonic sensors

Sanders

Sanders²,

Gegov

et al. 2017

2017 Intelligent Systems Conference (IntelliSys)

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A system is presented that shares control between ultrasonic sensors, a tele-operator and a mobile robot. The mobile robot can be directed by the tele-operator, or by ultrasonic sensors, or they can share control. The mobile robot system can change direction if there are obstacles ahead or if it is helpful. Sharing control allows a human tele-operator to drive efficiently and safely. Controller gains are set automatically for a human tele-operator and the ultrasonic sensor system by calculating a confidence factor for the mobile robot tele-operator. The ultrasonic sensor system can assist a human tele-operator in driving the mobile robot to offset for shortcomings, for example the tele-operator may not be able to see the mobile robot or the human tele-operator may be tired. Finally, some testing is described to validate the proposed methods.

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Improving Steering of a Powered Wheelchair Using an Expert System to Interpret Hand Tremor

Cited by 29 publications

References 29 publications

Selecting a Best Compromise Direction for a Powered Wheelchair Using PROMETHEE

Selecting a Best Compromise Direction for a Powered Wheelchair Using PROMETHEE

Tele-operator performance and their perception of system time lags when completing mobile robot tasks

Using confidence factors to share control between a mobile robot tele-operater and ultrasonic sensors

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