Overview
So far, people who cannot use an electric wheelchair due to physical limitations are severely restricted in their mobility and thus in their autonomy. This lack of independence and self-reliance must at present be balanced by family members or caregivers and can be costly.
In the project AuRoRoll, suitable concepts, procedures and algorithms are developed, with help a wheelchair to automatically avoid collisions, avoid obstacles and cover predefined paths (e.g. from the bedroom to the kitchen or from the apartment to the supermarket). The wheelchair will be able to map its surroundings, analyse, calculate automatically suitable paths and run collision-free, thanks to camera-based sensors. The efficient methods for environmental detection and mapping have great potential - not only for wheelchair robotics, but also in fast-growing industries such as the automotive industry and aviation.
The AuRoRoll sensor consists of several image sensors and highly specialized hardware which processes the image data in real-time, automatically generates an environment and obstacle map, calculates suitable paths, and generates the corresponding control commands for various manufacturers' electric wheelchairs.