Obstacle detection system using light intensity for manual wheelchair users
Souta Aoki, Souta Akamine, Taku Itami, Jun Yoneyama · 2023
The number of people with physical disabilities in Japan is increasing, and wheelchairs are among their main support tools. Since wheelchair users are at risk of serious injury depending on their physical function, researchers are investigating ways to prevent people from falling out of them. Most fall prevention research has focused on electric wheelchairs, but manual wheelchairs are also widely used because they prevent disuse muscle atrophy of users. Therefore, a fall prevention system that allows users to remain physically active is necessary. Conventional obstacle detection systems have difficulty detecting small obstacles that are dangerous for wheelchair users, and in some cases detection is impossible depending on the distance. Therefore, in this research we propose an algorithm that can measure distance and height regardless of the actual distance to, and size of, the obstacle. This algorithm identifies distance and height by specifying the range irradiated to the obstacle based on the light intensity information of the irradiated line laser. To verify the algorithm ’s effectiveness, we measured the distance to an actual obstacle that was 20 mm high, which is the standard for the height that a wheelchair can climb over.