MICROCONTROLLER BASED HAND GLOVE CONTROLLED WHEELCHAIR 2011 4th International Conference on Mechatronics (ICOM), 17-19 May 2011,

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

ABSTRACT:

The Wheelchair is an important way of transfer for handicapped and aged people. Many researchers have been developing intelligent wheelchairs due to the increasing requirement of safer and more comfortable wheelchairs. In this project we are developing a wheelchair which can be controlled by using RF MODULE. The aim of this project is to implement an automatic chair for physically handicapped persons. In this project we use stepper motor or BLDC motor controller to control the movement of wheel chair. We introduce a design and implementation of BLDC motor controller for an electric power wheelchair. The functions of this motor controller include wheel velocity control and torque control. The performance of the control system is experimentally verified. To control the speed and angle of the wheelchair movement we use DC motor. The operation of the wheelchair is very simple, by simply giving the commands the persons can control direction as well as the speed of the wheel chair.

INTRODUCTION:

Over 100 million people worldwide, with physical disabilities require the assistance of a wheelchair but only a small percentage of them actually own or have the liberty of buying one. Although manual wheelchairs have proven to be beneficial for the disabled but it has only served the purpose of people with minor disabilities. Consider for a moment, a person suffering from partial tetraplegia or sclerosis. It becomes extremely difficult for such a person to manoeuvre the chair, even within the confines of a house. Such a person would require the assistance of other people, even to carry out his daily chores. Another alternative would be an electric wheelchair controlled by a joystick. Although the electric powered wheelchair is a much improvised vehicle and an easier-to-control device, but it might not help the cause of severely disabled. Common experience shows that a joystick requires a relatively large force which is more than the threshold for severely disabled people. Taking into consideration, the force and the whopping cost of wheelchairs available in the market, this paper describes the design of a cost-effective and easier-to-control wheelchair. The paper presents a control-method to manoeuvre a motorized wheelchair merely by the movement of fingers. It aims at incorporating the modern ways of wheel chair dynamics and control and at the same time making it cost effective, so that it is affordable to the Common masses. The goal of this research is to develop a wheelchair system which controls its movement by the mere bending of a persons fingers. Special type of sensors known as flexsensors are embedded into a hand glove in order to achieve the desired goal. In this research a prototype of an affordable and technologically advanced wheelchair is to be designed and developed. The proposed prototype will be communicating wirelessly between the controller and the plant and it will also replace the traditional joystick by the implementation of user hand glove control. The remaining part of this paper is organized as follows. Literature review is presented in Section II while the proposed methodology is elaborated in Section III. Initial design results obtained are contained in section IV and V, followed by the conclusion, which ends this paper.

BLOCK DIAGRAM:
Block Diagram of Transmitter

Block Diagram of Receiver

WORKING:

The technological progress in the field of Wheelchair technology is at its epoch. Its not surprising to see that a lot of work has been done in the field of wheelchair technology. First there were the manual wheelchairs, then came the electric powered wheelchairs and now there are Smart Wheelchairs. The design of a Motorized Chair that transports a human within the confines of a house. A Motorized Chair consists of a chair with the two motors and a joystick controller. A microcontroller outputs the speed and direction to the motors. Most wheelchairs are controlled from their back wheels. The front wheels respond and rotate in accordance to the back wheels. As the controller is moved, the micro-controller senses the movement, do the calculations for power and direction and the motors move accordingly. A motor-control circuit controls the speed and the direction of rotation of motors. Report on the development of a device called The Magic Glove. The Magic Glove is an instrumented glove with wide range of applications in the field of robotics. The glove measures the force exerted by the wearer of a material handling robot. Once the force is sensed and measured, it is broadcasted to the controller. The function of the magic glove is to allow the user to apply a minimal force on an object while transporting it from one place to another. The human or the wearer of the gloves just mimics the action to be done, while the actual lifting and placing is left for the actuator to be done. Radio Frequency (RF) technology is used to transit the signals from the glove to the microcontroller. Also report on the development of a similar hand to machine interface device. The device essentially is a glove that provides real-time gesture, position and orientation information. Various methods for the advancement of wheelchair technology have been discussed and analyzed herewith. It is apparent that the control of a wheelchair can be further improved by the combination of different technologies such as the incorporation of an instrumented glove, hence replacing the need for joysticks and creating an independent controller, which is easier-to-control and portable at the same time, for the end user.

HARDWARE REQUIREMENTS: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. Microcontroller kit. Motor driver kit. Transmitter & Receiver module. Sensor. Power supply. 12V DC motor. 12V, 7.5AH Battery.

SOFTWARE REQUIREMENTS: 1. Keil software.

APPLICATIONS: 1. In house hold

In house application for moving light weight objects from one room to another. Easy transportation of daily commodities within the house for domestic purpose
2. In security systems

We can use spy camera placed on wheelchair for security reasons. Also we can use a small microphone to spying purpose.
3. In industries

By using high torque motor we can easily transport the heavy objects. Also the it gives chance to handicapped person to work at industries WO overcome their disabilities.
4. In Human-Machine Interface

For moving handicapped and physically disable peoples. It gives them an opportunity to live freely without any assistant from others.
5. In Virtual Reality And Motion Tracking

In future with some new advanced technology such as brain machine interface (BMI) and Man Machine Interface we can make the task of moving wheelchair through brain signals.

ADVANTAGES:
1. No line of sight is needed. 2. Longer range. 3. It is economical. 4. Simple in construction. 5. Easy to use. 6. Robust and on spot 360* turning possible. 7. Does not need key board, mouse, speech recognition, touch screen, etc. 8. It is not much sensitive to the environmental changes and weather conditions. 9. With the gloves on & device worn as wrist watch, only power cable with battery

adapter is required to plug in.

DISADVANTAGE: