Microcontroller based voice-activated powered wheelchair control

Most of the conventional electric powered wheelchairs are using joystick as a used input mode of control to maneuver the powered wheelchairs. The drawback of joystick control is that it is not suitable for physical disabled person who cannot control their movements especially the hands. The proposed voice-activated powered wheelchair supplementary with joystick control allows physically disabled person to maneuver the wheelchair easily without the need to use hands. The propelling of the powered wheelchair depends on the motor control and drive system which consists of Infineon microcontroller XC886 and Infineon DC chopper power module BTS7970B. Once the voice recognition system recognizes the voice commands in comparison to the prestored memory, the respective coded digital signals would be sent to the microcontroller which then controls the wheelchair accordingly. The prototype powered wheelchair is tested with a pay load of about 120kg. The motor drive circuit can deliver the current up to 37.5A at 12V. In this paper, the joystick control algorithm, closed-loop current control and voice recognition system would be discussed. With the implementation of closed-loop current control, the effect of jerk is reduced.