Guide following control using laser range sensor for a smart wheelchair

This paper presents a guide following control (a driving support control) for a smart electric wheelchair, so that the wheelchair can follow a preceding person (guide). A walking guide is obtained from laser scan images by an in-vehicle laser range sensor based on Kalman filter and data association, and the guide footprint is estimated. Based on position data of the footprint, a cubic spline generates a target path for the wheelchair. The wheelchair is controlled so that it can move along the guide footprint at a constant gap between the wheelchair and the guide. The experimental result validated the feasibility of the control method.