Electric wheelchair controlled by human body motion interface

This research studies the possibility of an intuitive interface for an electric wheelchair by using human body except hands. For this purpose, we focused on the human body motion which has relation to actions or behavior. This motion comes from the human stabilization function for holding expectable collapsing caused by voluntary motion. Thus this motion is considered as a kind of characteristics of human motion, and is linked to intentions unconsciously. Therefore, the interface which does not require conscious and complex motion is realized by applying this human body motion to the interface of electric wheelchair. In this paper, first, we did experiment to search a part which vividly shows the pressure change on the seat. As a result, it was confirmed that pressure change of the seat back vividly shows the human body motion. Next, we designed the prototype based on this evidence. Finally, experiment was conducted by using 10 subjects and SD method to evaluate feeling of operation. For this result, it was turned out that all subjects feel that proposed interface was intuitive, or to control at their direction. Therefore it was confirmed that human body motion interface has a possibility to be used for an interface of electric wheelchair. © 2009 The Institute of Electrical Engineers of Japan.