Voice and Sensor for More Security on an Electric Wheelchair

Many people with disabilities do not have the ability to control a joystick on an electric wheelchair. Moreover, they have difficulty to avoid obstacles. The objective of this work is to implement a multi-modal system to control the movement of an electric wheelchair using small vocabulary word recognition system and a set of sensors to detect and avoid obstacles. The methodology adopted is based on grouping a microcontroller with a speech recognition development kit and the set of sensors. In order to gain in time and cost design a speech recognition kit is used and adapted to the application. The input of the system is a set often words used to control the movement of an AGV and information on the environment given by the sensors; the output is a corresponding command avoiding frontal obstacles and planning collision-free paths. The system is developed in order to be installed on the wheelchair. Therefore it should be easy to carry, no bulky, with low power consumption