Design and development of an autonomous robotic wheelchair for medical mobility

Abstract

Autonomous vehicle technology in the field of medical mobility is a means by which wheelchair users can improve their locomotion with intelligent human-machine interface. The research focuses on the design of such robotic wheelchair which is a multifaceted task incorporating hardware and software with sensor technology, computer processing and power distribution. The paper describes the design and development of a prototype of a smart wheelchair for autonomous path planning and high performance computing for real time data processing. Results from the performance testing demonstrate its functionality detecting obstacles.