NAVIGATIONAL ASSISTANCE FOR DISABLED WHEELCHAIR-USERS

Many disabilities may impair a disabled wheelchair-user's capability i n maintaining an accurate course using the conventional joystick contr ols. This paper describes systems being developed, using low cost ultr asonic sensors, to provide additional data to supplement that derived from the joystick whilst still leaving the user in overall control. Me thods are described for following a straight course parallel to a wail , which is one aspect of an ongoing research project to provide compre hensive low-cost navigational assistance for disabled wheelchair-users .