Motion Planning of Novel Stair-Climbing Wheelchair for Elderly and Disabled People

This research paper presents a novel track based stair-climbing wheelchair design with improved stability and performance. The proposed design has an adaptable arrangement to the staircase especially at the top of the staircase. In the existing wheelchair designs, this particular feature has not been adequately addressed. The proposed design consists of body frame and supporting rubber track arms. Of the two main operations; ascending and descending, the most critical operations is at the top of the staircase, which is smoothly controlled by following the staircase profile. This motion is achieved by properly synchronizing the rubber track arms according to a pre-planned motion profile. As a result, user does not feel sudden motions in position and attitude. Furthermore, the proposed wheelchair is adaptable to any staircase.