Assisted Control Mode for a Smart Wheelchair

Our aim is to implement a force feedback joystick on a powered wheelchair provided with a set of range sensors. This system is intended to people with disability for whom a traditional joystick control (or any other adapted sensor control) is difficult or impossible because of too severe motor disabilities. The force feedback is calculated according to the proximity of the obstacles and helps the user, without forcing him, to move towards the free direction. Adopted methodology aims at circumventing certain obstacles which slow down the diffusion and thus the current use of smart wheelchairs: problems of safety, of reliability and of acceptability in particular. The results presented aim at identifying the driving situations for which an assisted control can really improve the piloting performances compared to a traditional manual control.