Auto-navigation of a wheelchair

This paper presents an autonomous wheelchair system with the capability of self-localization and obstacle avoidance. In our system, the ceiling lights are chosen as landmarks to realize the self-localization of the wheelchair, and a laser range-finder is used for obstacle avoidance. First the approaches of landmark recognition and selflocalization for the wheelchair are proposed. Then the principle of obstacle avoidance using a laser range-finder is described. Finally, the total system of the wheelchair is introduced and a navigational experiment is described. Experimental results indicate the effectiveness of our system. This work was presented, in part, at the International Symposium on Artificial Life and Robotics, Oita, Japan, February 18–20, 1996