A Truly Intelligent Wheelchair for Severely Disabled People

Imagine being a multiple sclerosis patient used to driving a wheelchair with a joystick. As your condition progresses, you may loose the strength and control to operate a wheelchair using a joystick. It would be a tremendous setback to lose the independence of freely moving around in a wheelchair.

Soon that thought may become less of a worry as MIT is making good progress designing an intelligent wheelchair controlled simply by voice.

The wheelchair uses two different systems for navigation: it relies on GPS outdoors and is guided by a map of the local environment to navigate inside. What’s really unique about this particular intelligent wheelchair is that it’s completely self-learning. The chair is programmed when it’s taken on a guided tour of an area during which time key locations are identified via WiFi.

Witness this amazing technology by checking out this video that explains how the voice-command robotic wheelchair operates.

Automated Transport and Retrieval System for Wheelchairs Enables Driver Independence

Many wheelchair users transfer from their wheelchair to the driver’s seat but need to rely on another person to stash the chair in the car, limiting the driver’s independence. Thanks to a new technological invention, a laser-guided robotic wheelchair can now stash itself in the car. With the push of a few buttons on a remote control the wheelchair rolls by itself to the back of the vehicle where it is picked up by a motorized lift and guided inside where it securely locks itself. This whole process is reversed after the driver arrives at the destination. The system has been designed to work under various challenging conditions such as rain and darkness.

We are always excited to learn about new technologies that aid people with a disability, in this case giving disabled drivers more freedom. See a demo of this system in the video below.