Electric wheelchairs controlled by head movement

Group of students in Electricity - Electronics, Ho Chi Minh City University of Transport has set up the idea of ​​designing wheelchairs capable of supporting people with disabilities, frail elderly people who have no flexibility to control as desired by head gestures.

According to KS. Le Manh Tuan, co-instructor, uses IMU sensor module in combination with microcontroller control algorithm to determine the direction that the user wants to go. At the same time, it is possible to adjust the vehicle's travel speed according to the users' wishes (or guardians).

Since the controller of the product is designed in the form of modules, it can be replaced or repaired easily during use, and can be easily installed on other electric wheelchair products, From there, it is possible to switch from hand-controlled electric wheelchairs easily with the first gesture required by the user.

Combined with the Raspberry Pi3 kit (a speech recognition model also made by the team) and the camera is capable of transmitting images of relatives and hospital centers so that it can monitor and monitor the current situation. of users via wifi network.

The group of authors Lam Quang Thai, Nguyen Van Huy, Trinh Truong, Truong Tan Ngoc, Dang Nguyen Truong Duy - students of Electrical - Electronics subject, University of Transport and Communications - Branding in Ho Chi Minh City, under the direction lead of MA.Vo Thien Linh came up with the idea of ​​designing this wheelchair

The principle of wheelchair operation is as follows: the vehicle is controlled through the controller that receives the signal from the sensor placed on the user's head. Through the signal received from the sensor, the controller will output a signal to control the actuator to make the wheelchair move at will (according to the movement of the head including: tilting left - right tilt - leaning forward - back fall - vertical).

Sensor module includes 3 sensors: accelerometer sensor, velocity sensor and magnetic sensor. From these three sensors combined with signal processing algorithms, the controller knows the direction the user wants to move. At the same time during operation, the wheelchair camera will transfer the user's image to the relatives or the center of the hospital via wifi network.

Comment on the advantages of products, MSc. Vo Thien Linh said, because the product is 'Made in Vietnam', it is cheap. On the other hand, by integrating into individual modules, it is easy to assemble on many different wheelchairs and easy to use.

In the direction of product development in the future, because the product is designed in the form of modules and controllers made by embedded computers, the microcontroller should have many development directions as combined with image processing, voice processing to recognize gestures, words of users from which to control the vehicle.

Products using GPS should easily identify users, send emergency messages to relatives in emergency cases, as well as integrate sensors: measure heart rate, body temperature .

With practical benefits, this is the theme that won the gold prize at the V 'Design, Manufacturing and Application' contest in 2017 organized by Ho Chi Minh City Youth Union.