Digital sensor system for powered wheelchairs will use AI for driver assistance

Researchers at Portsmouth University, led by Dr David Sanders and Dr Martin Langner, have previously developed low-cost analogue collision avoidance systems for powered wheelchairs, based on the use of simple proximity sensors.

Now, in an EPSRC-funded project with Dr Alex Gegov, the researchers are developing a digital sensor system for powered wheelchairs, which will use artificial intelligence to learn how well a particular user can drive, and adapt the level of support offered accordingly.

By reducing the effort needed to drive, the devices will allow some people to use a wheelchair by themselves for the first time, and make driving and steering far easier for many others, Sanders said.

“The system can automatically adjust itself for the child that is driving the wheelchair,” he said. “So for example, if the system knows, or very quickly learns, that a particular child is blind and has very little spatial awareness, then it can adjust itself to assist them in the best possible way.”