Mobile robotics and mobility assistance for people with motor impairments: rational justification for the VAHM project

Abstract

Abstruct-The VAHM project aims to improve the control of powered wheelchairs by adding possibilities of autonomous mobility. We propose specifications which are based on a detailed study of similar projects described in specialized publications. Three operating modes are defined in order to adapt the system to a great diversity of situations. In the autonomous mode a global trajectory is planned, and the user then intervenes to point the goal and, if need be, stop a motion during its execution. The assisted manual mode allows access to local primitives like a wall following. Finally, in the manual mode, we find the classical control of a powered wheelchair again. The first results of the technical evaluation are discussed in the conclusion.

Natural Interactions: An Application for Gestural Hands Recognition

“…Em 1996, pela primeira vez, foi apresentado um veículo autónomo para pessoas deficientes, conhecido como VAHM (Bourhis & Pino, 1996) (Tahboub & Asada, 1999), (Luo, Chen, & Lin, 1999), (Nakanishi, Kuno, Shimada, & Shirai, 1999), chegando-se então ao termo que ainda hoje é aplicado: cadeira de rodas inteligente. Hoje, estas cadeiras denotam um desenvolvimento apontando para a maximização da funcionalidade da cadeira, do conforto, independência e autoestima do utilizador.…”

ROS Based Multi-sensor Navigation of Intelligent Wheelchair

“…The research on intelligent wheelchair emerged in 1980s, and a series of long term projects have been carried out have been carried out, such as SENARIO [3], Wheelesley [4], NavChair [5], and VAHM [6]. Most of these intelligent wheelchair projects share similar concept-shared control.…”

Towards ROS Based Multi-robot Architecture for Ambient Assisted Living

“…The research on intelligent wheelchair commenced in 1980s, and a series of long term projects have been carried out since, such as Wheelesley [6], NavChair [7], VAHM [8], and [9]. However, most of these wheelchairs only functioned well in laboratories and few of them are available on the market so far.…”