Wheelchair control based on a polynomial function approximating a user's gaze curve

We propose a new wheelchair control system based on a polynomial function approximating a user's gaze curve. Conventional studies utilizing gaze data recognized three wheelchair movements: "go straight," "turn right," and "turn left." However, it was difficult for the system to assess when it should switch wheelchair motions because the user's gaze was always changing. To solve this problem, we divided "turn right" and "turn left" wheelchair movements into three groups each in order to control the wheelchair easily. Consequently, the system has to recognize seven wheelchair movements: straight, and three groups each for turning right and left. It is not sufficiency for a system to assess seven wheelchair movements by only the user's gaze. Thus, we developed a wheelchair system considering not only the user's gaze but also the angular velocity and acceleration to control wheelchair motions. We approximated the user's gaze using a polynomial function, and calculated the fine gaze angle, angular velocity and acceleration. The effectiveness of the proposed method was shown by experimental results.