Engineers can build autonomous vehicles capable of cruising city streets without the aid of a human driver, as demonstrated two years ago in the DARPA Urban Challenge. A team of researchers is now looking to translate that success to the medical field by building so-called "smart wheelchairs" with artificial intelligence that uses lasers, sensors and mapping software to operate and navigate powered chairs for riders who cannot do so on their own.

With help from a five-year, $480,000 National Science Foundation grant received in June, a team of researchers led by John Spletzer, an associate professor of computer science and engineering at Lehigh University in Bethlehem, Pa., has developed a prototype chair designed specifically for negotiating sidewalks, parking lots and other outdoor areas.

As with other smart wheelchairs designed in the past, Spletzer's device uses a light detection and ranging (LiDAR) system to detect trees, poles, parking meters, corners and other real-world obstacles. A key difference is that this chair will cross-reference the maps it makes of its surroundings using LiDAR and other sensors with 3-D maps that Spletzer and his team create and load into its memory. To complement the chair's ability to recognize and avoid stationary obstacles, the researchers are also planning to write software that will help the chair predict and avoid moving obstacles such as pedestrians and cars.

"My work aims to push the envelope in wheelchair autonomy," Spletzer says. "It will not be limited to structured indoor environments. Instead, it investigates the much more difficult problem of autonomous operations in unstructured environments outdoors."

The prototype that Spletzer and his colleagues have built thus far can trace its lineage back to two of Spletzer's previous research endeavors. One is the 2007 DARPA Urban Challenge for robotic vehicles, where Spletzer was part of the team that produced "Little Ben," a Toyota Prius fitted with laser and camera sensors. Little Ben was one of six cars (out of a field of 89 vehicles) that autonomously completed the 92-kilometer course, designed to mimic the challenges of city driving.

Spletzer's work with Philadelphia's Freedom Sciences, LLC, likewise contributed to his smart wheelchair prototype. Freedom Sciences received U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval in 2008 to sell its Automated Transport and Retrieval System (ATRS), which lets wheelchair users get into and out of their vehicles as well as stow and retrieve their motorized wheelchairs. ATRS works as such: after getting into the driver's seat, the driver uses a remote control to guide the wheelchair to a lift at the back of his car. Once there, the wheelchair uses a laser guidance system to dock itself on the lift platform, which is then retracted into the car. "The wheelchair only goes a couple of feet on its own," Spletzer says, "but it allows the driver to be independent."

Spletzer and his team created the maps for their prototype smart chair with Little Ben's help. They drove the modified Prius around South Bethlehem and the Stabler Arena parking lot on Lehigh's Goodman Campus to create 3-D maps later downloaded to their wheelchair's control system. (Although this sounds work-intensive, it is not unlike Google's approach to creating its Street View maps.) In test runs, the researchers have been able to get the chair to autonomously travel about one kilometer and arrive at its destination while tracking its position within an accuracy of 20 centimeters. Spletzer adds that they could not have achieved this level of accuracy using the Global Positioning System (GPS), which tends to be off by a meter or more. Not a big problem for drivers, but a huge issue for a wheelchair.

5 Comments

1. 1. Quinn the Eskimo 10:26 PM 12/16/09

   I'm not being rude, but, with as high as this appears to be, once in it--how does the victim er, patient get out?
   
   REPEL?

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2. 2. keithbound 02:23 AM 12/17/09

   Although this is a very important project, but I am amazed that the research is not focused on really improving manoevurability of the wheelchair....castors are useless especially when going over uneven ground or inclines. Users find it difficult to control or go in the desired direction. 20 years ago I developed a 4 wheel drive, steering wheelchair which solved this problem but could not get it in production.
   Surely in this high tech environment this should be a given....If anyone is interested I still have some images of a model of a the four wheel drive/steering wheelchair

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3. 3. jamesstewart 09:22 AM 2/23/11

   My work aims to push the envelope in wheelchair autonomy," Spletzer says. "It will not be limited to structured indoor environments. Instead, it investigates the much more difficult problem of autonomous operations in unstructured environments outdoors.
   ================================
   <a href="http://www.backup-sensor.com" rel="dofollow">Parking Sensors</a>

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4. 4. paulfrancisnrs in reply to Quinn the Eskimo 05:48 AM 2/26/11

   Before one year i was also in the same position. At that time for getting victim what steps do you follow. Can you please share me the information.
   ................
   Paul
   <a href="http://www.backup-sensor.com">Parking Sensors</a>
   

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5. 5. paulfrancisnrs in reply to paulfrancisnrs 05:50 AM 2/26/11

   Before one year i was also in the same position. At that time for getting victim what steps do you follow. Can you please share me the information.
   ................
   Paul
   [url="http://www.backup-sensor.com"rel="dofollow"]Parking Sensors[/url]

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