Voice control of a powered wheelchair

Several researchers have described voice control mechanisms for a power wheelchair, but voice control has yet to become a commercially viable control alternative. One problem with voice control is that the voice\´s limited bandwidth renders it impossible to make frequent small adjustments to the wheelchair\´s velocity. One possible solution is to utilize voice control in combination with the navigation assistance provided by "Smart wheelchairs," which use sensors to identify and avoid obstacles in the wheelchair\´s path. This paper describes an experiment that compares the performance of able-bodied subjects using voice control to operate a power wheelchair both with and without navigation assistance.