Comparison between Two Motorized Wheelchair Braking Methods

Motorized wheelchairs make life easier for people with severely limited mobility. Some of them have more difficulty in using such equipment, which puts them in riskier situations. This work compares two systems for wheelchair braking (progressive deceleration and automatic braking). The task consisted in driving the chair against a wall with a 90q angle and two speeds (1.3 km/h and 2.4 km/h). An ultrasound sensor detects the minimum distance to the wall and activates the braking system that was modified electronically for the task. The automatic braking system reduced the distance between brake activation spot and total stop by up to 55.3% at 2.4 km/h.