Robotic wheelchair for museum visit

Abstract

Recently, several robotic/intelligent wheelchairs have been proposed. Their main research topics are autonomous functions such as moving toward some goal while avoiding obstacles, and user-friendly interfaces. Although it is desirable for wheelchair users to go out alone, caregivers often accompany them. Thus we must consider reducing caregivers’ load in addition to autonomous functions and user interfaces. This paper presents the wheelchair that takes appropriate actions depending on the situation. The wheelchair user and the caregiver move together side by side while chatting. When the caregiver stops close to some exhibit, the wheelchair detects the exhibit by its vision system and moves to a position where the user can look at it well. The wheelchair may turn toward the caregiver if the caregiver turns toward the user to talk about the exhibit.