Involuntary movement suppression filter for electric wheelchair with athetosis-type cerebral palsy

Individuals with cerebral palsy use electric wheelchairs due to their abnormal gait caused by paralysis and other symptoms. However, it is difficult for them to operate the wheelchair joystick because of their suddenly occurring uncontrollable, involuntary movements and the difficulty they have maintaining their posture. In this study, we developed a control system, which suppresses the effects of involuntary movement. This system is capable of controlling electric wheelchairs as intended by individuals with tension-athetosis-type cerebral palsy. We demonstrated the experiments to compare the stability of operation by normal system and the proposed system. Finally, we showed the effectiveness of the proposed system in the straight running experiment.