Design and development of smart system to assist quadriplegics

Abstract

Quadriplegia is a spinal cord injury resulting in loss of sensory and motor receptors which leads to loss of movement in limbs. Estimated lifetime care cost for a quadriplegic patient is in excess of a million dollars which renders it difficult for a person to bear the finances of it. Existing devices to support and help a quadriplegic includes automated wheelchair. Though they solve the problem of mobility, they do not help them in carrying out other day to day activities successfully. They make use of brain signals or joystick to move the wheelchair bound person in and around places. The complexity and cost of such devices makes them unaffordable for most of the population around the world. The paper proposed here consists of an automated wheelchair along with a circuitry to control home appliances. It provides mobility to the wheelchair bound person based on the movement of an accelerometer chip connected to the headgear of the injured. A mechanism is provided to help them control the movements of a mouse pointer and extend the functionality of the developed system to help them operate a computer to a certain extent. This paper provides a much greater self-reliance, easy mobility, easy switching between different modes to control home appliances, mouse pointer, all based on the head movements of the affected person at a lower cost with a greater impact and effectiveness.