Design, fabrication, and testing of a semi-autonomous wheelchair

This research project presents a semi-autonomous wheelchair that will move and avoid obstacles autonomously while a remote control will be used to guide the wheelchair in its path to the user. The wheelchair is equipped with two DC motors, batteries, a transmitter-receiver pair (to relate to the remote control), and nine ultrasonic sensors that is controlled by an Arduino microcontroller. The motors used are 24VDC, 250W brushed DC motors, and are independently controlled based on the input provided by the ultrasonic sensors and on-board receiver. The control system implements algorithms in obstacle avoidance for the wheelchair and in the path planning for the remote control. In the testing and performance evaluation, factors such as response time, maneuverability, speed, turning radius, and recommended maximum payload is measured and analyzed.