Assisting power wheelchair driving on a sidewalk: A proof of concept

The use of a power wheelchair allows to maintain mobility by providing better access to daily activities and thus positive impact on the quality of life. However, driving a power wheelchair is a complex task, particularly within an environment consisting of negative obstacles (e.g. steps, sidewalk edges). In this context, falling accidents can occur while driving a power wheelchair on a sidewalk. Therefore, driving assistance is required to prevent from falling off a curb edge. In order to meet these expectations, we here propose a semi-autonomous shared control framework assisting the user while driving on a sidewalk. We present simulations as well as an experiment carried out with our system embedded on a standard wheelchair. In both cases, our method allows progressive velocity adaptation when approaching a curb edge resulting in the wheelchair avoiding the risk of falling. The obtained results thus provide a proof of concept of our method.