Control system of powered wheelchairs based on tongue motion detection

A new intelligent powered wheelchair is urgently needed for the individuals with tetraplegia and similar impairments who are unable to use the standard joystick. Based on the tongue motion detection, a new control system is introduced in this paper which is helpful for users to operate powered wheelchair efficiently and easily. The tongue motion can be detected with several vibration film sheets that were embedded in the headset and a standard analog signal can be generated with embedded controller to control the wheelchair, which is convenient to be used in almost other wheelchair. The tongue motion drive system integrated into headset was developed and the control of the wheelchair has been tested moving along the designed route. Preliminary results show that the system is simple and convenient to control powered wheelchair with low cost, which has potential application in intelligent control domain.