A Critical Look at Smart Wheelchairs

TL;DR

This paper critically examines the gap between smart wheelchair research and real-world user needs, highlighting disparities and suggesting future research directions to improve adoption.

Contribution

It identifies key mismatches between research and practical use, proposing targeted focus areas for advancing smart wheelchair technology.

Findings

Research does not align with real-world user needs

Disparities hinder widespread adoption

Suggestions for future research directions

Abstract

Research into smart wheelchairs has been conducted for decades, but we have yet to see the widespread use of this technology among full-time wheelchair users. We argue that the main reason for this is that there is a mismatch between research and the actualities of using a powered mobility device in the real world. Based on our own research experiences, we enumerate some of these disparities, and offer some suggestions for where work in smart wheelchairs might focus in the coming years.