BotBeep — An affordable warning device for wheelchair rearward safety

Author

Ci-Jyun Liang ; Shih-Chung Kang ; Yao-Yu Yang ; Pei-Chun Lin ; Yu-Shung Lin ; Yi-Chu Chen

Author_Institution

Dept. of Civil Eng., Nat. Taiwan Univ., Taipei, Taiwan

fYear

2013

fDate

12-16 March 2013

Firstpage

159

Lastpage

163

Abstract

As the rear of a wheelchair is often in a wheelchair user´s blind spot, an innovative and low-cost device, BotBeep, was developed to warn the user of elevation changes behind the wheelchair corresponding to holes, steep slopes, and staircases. Thus, BotBeep reduces the risk of falling and turning over. Tests were conducted using a smartphone as a computing device via an image processing technique. Elderly volunteers from the Suang-Lien Elderly Center participated in these tests. This research studies the possibility of incorporating BotBeep into the daily lives of Taiwan´s elderly population.

Keywords

geriatrics; handicapped aids; image processing; medical computing; smart phones; wheelchairs; BotBeep; affordable warning device; elderly population; elevation changes; falling risk; image processing technique; low cost device; smartphone computing device; turning over risk; wheelchair rearward safety; Accidents; Educational institutions; Mobile robots; Senior citizens; Sensors; Wheelchairs; laser; sensing device; smartphone; wheelchair;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Orange Technologies (ICOT), 2013 International Conference on

Conference_Location

Tainan

Print_ISBN

978-1-4673-5934-4

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/ICOT.2013.6521182

Filename

6521182