A Hands Gesture System Of Control For An Intelligent Wheelchair

When an unfortunate event affects the motor capacity of a person, it is necessary to use devices like wheelchairs that offer a means o displacement for patients with motors problems of the lower limbs. Some patients that cannot manipulate the wheelchair with their arms due to a lack of force or psychomotor problems in the superior members, request electric wheelchairs, frequently manipulated with joysticks; however the joystick manipulation is even not practical and frequently it must be handle with the mouth. The present article presents the partial results in the development of a wheelchair controlled by an intuitive interface, where the instructions are given by hand gesture instructions. The advances are presented in the realization of the control software using a Webcam and some distances and presence sensors controlled by a PIC microcontroller that establishes the communication with a program developed in Labview.