ISBN 978-3-8439-1541-0

978-3-8439-1541-0, Reihe Robotik und Automation

Christian Bartolein
Design, Implementation, and Evaluation of a Gaze-based Wheelchair Assistance System

200 Seiten, Dissertation Universität Mannheim (2013), Softcover, A5

Zusammenfassung / Abstract

This thesis deals with the development of an assistance system for powered wheelchairs, which provides (semi-)autonomous support for severely disabled. To ease wheelchair control the presented approach aims at reducing the number of explicit user inputs. This is realized by taking into account the user’s gaze behavior in order to estimate his/her current action intention. Based on the estimated action intention meaningful wheelchair action is generated.

To prove the validity of the developed approach for wheelchair control via interpretation of gaze behavior, an implementation based on a conventional powered wheelchair has been realized. In the scope of a final evaluation study 21 test persons navigated the prototypical system in a realistic indoor environment. Study results show that the realized system significantly eases wheelchair handling in comparison to traditional specialty controls.