Development of One Hand Drive Electric Assist Wheelchair System: Reproduction of pseudo inertia deceleration running by motors

Abstract

The purpose of this research is to develop the electric assist wheelchair system for hemiplegic users. The proposed system is able to move in any direction by operating only one hand rim on one side. The hand rim can detect the user's operational intention by measuring contacting force and status of grasp and its style. The proposed system enables straight ahead, go back, gradual turn, pivot turn and stop based on the force being applied to the hand rim, whether the hand rim is grasped or not, and rotational speed of the hand rim. After the user operates the hand rim and releases it, the moving mode shifts to the deceleration mode. In the deceleration mode, the pseudo inertia deceleration is reproduced by motors. In this paper, we focus on the proposal of the system and the inertia deceleration by controlling motors, and verify how much it can reproduce in the outdoor environment.