Citation: Cojocaru, D.; Manta, L.F.;
Pan˘a, C.F.; Dragomir, A.; Mariniuc,
A.M.; Vladu, I.C. The Design of an
Intelligent Robotic Wheelchair
Supporting People with Special
Needs, Including for Their Visual
System. Healthcare 2022, 10, 13.
https://doi.org/10.3390/
healthcare10010013
Academic Editor: Robbert Gobbens
Received: 5 December 2021
Accepted: 19 December 2021
Published: 22 December 2021
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Article
The Design of an Intelligent Robotic Wheelchair Supporting
People with Special Needs, Including for Their Visual System
Dorian Cojocaru * , Liviu Florin Manta , Cristina Floriana Pană , Andrei Dragomir, Alexandru Marin Mariniuc
and Ionel Cristian Vladu
Department of Mechatronics and Robotics, University of Craiova, RO-200440 Craiova, Romania;
florin.manta@edu.ucv.ro (L.F.M.); cristina.pana@edu.ucv.ro (C.F.P.); andrei.dragomir@edu.ucv.ro (A.D.);
alexandru.mariniuc@edu.ucv.ro (A.M.M.); cristian.vladu@edu.ucv.ro (I.C.V.)
* Correspondence: dorian.cojocaru@edu.ucv.ro; Tel.: +40-722-795225; Fax: +40-251-438198
Abstract:
The paper aims to study the applicability and limitations of the solution resulting from a
design process for an intelligent system supporting people with special needs who are not physically
able to control a wheelchair using classical systems. The intelligent system uses information from
smart sensors and offers a control system that replaces the use of a joystick. The necessary movements
of the chair in the environment can be determined by an intelligent vision system analyzing the
direction of the patient’s gaze and point of view, as well as the actions of the head. In this approach,
an important task is to detect the destination target in the 3D workspace. This solution has been
evaluated, outdoor and indoor, under different lighting conditions. In order to design the intelligent
wheelchair, and because sometimes people with special needs also have specific problems with their
optical system (e.g., strabismus, Nystagmus) the system was tested on different subjects, some of
them wearing eyeglasses. During the design process of the intelligent system, all the tests involving
human subjects were performed in accordance with specific rules of medical security and ethics. In
this sense, the process was supervised by a company specialized in health activities that involve
people with special needs. The main results and findings are as follows: validation of the proposed
solution for all indoor lightning conditions; methodology to create personal profiles, used to improve
the HMI efficiency and to adapt it to each subject needs; a primary evaluation and validation for the
use of personal profiles in real life, indoor conditions. The conclusion is that the proposed solution
can be used for persons who are not physically able to control a wheelchair using classical systems,
having with minor vision deficiencies or major vision impairment affecting one of the eyes.
Keywords:
HMI sensors and devices; biomedical robotics; eye-tracking command system; eye gaze;
assistive robotics
1. Introduction
The number of people with disabilities has increased significantly with the ageing
of the population [
1
]. Out of these, people with motor disabilities are dependent on
wheelchairs. Over the years, regarding the electric wheelchairs, various devices have been
developed for driving the seat adapted to the level of disability the user presented [
2
].
Given that, statistically, more than half of wheelchair users have difficulties adapting to
the user interface. The control methods were developed starting with a simple electric or
pneumatic tube (blowing air into a tube) and reaching the level where the head position
tracking, eyes tracking, or facial expressions are being used [
3
–
5
]. The insertion of mobile
robotics in this field has substantially improved the control interface and of the navigation
aid, factors that lead to the semi-automation of this type of locomotion. Of course, these
control devices are correlated with the level of disability of the user, the automation of the
user control interface is leading implicitly to the increase of the complexity of the system
and the costs. However, eye-tracking devices and facial expression recognition systems are
still in development, with current models offering just a few practical facilities compared to
Healthcare 2022, 10, 13. https://doi.org/10.3390/healthcare10010013 https://www.mdpi.com/journal/healthcare
