A Low-Cost Tele-Presence Wheelchair System

TL;DR

This paper introduces a low-cost tele-presence wheelchair system integrating video communication, semi-autonomous navigation, and a touch interface to enhance mobility and social interaction for elderly or disabled users.

Contribution

It presents a novel, integrated tele-presence wheelchair system with a user-friendly touch interface and live video interaction, enabling remote operation and communication.

Findings

Effective tele-operation and navigation demonstrated

Positive user experience feedback obtained

System is low-cost and easy to use

Abstract

This paper presents the architecture and implementation of a tele-presence wheelchair system based on tele-presence robot, intelligent wheelchair, and touch screen technologies. The tele-presence wheelchair system consists of a commercial electric wheelchair, an add-on tele-presence interaction module, and a touchable live video image based user interface (called TIUI). The tele-presence interaction module is used to provide video-chatting for an elderly or disabled person with the family members or caregivers, and also captures the live video of an environment for tele-operation and semi-autonomous navigation. The user interface developed in our lab allows an operator to access the system anywhere and directly touch the live video image of the wheelchair to push it as if he/she did it in the presence. This paper also discusses the evaluation of the user experience.