INDEPENDENCE-ENHANCING WHEELCHAIR

Our nation faces increasing challenges in meeting the special needs of elderly and disabled individuals. Non-ambulatory persons with visual impairment, diminished upper-body mobility, spasticity/tremors, memory/attention deficits and other problems may require extraordinary care measures because they can operate neither powered nor manual wheelchairs successfully. Current state-of-the-art motorized wheelchairs do not provide the performance, features, and safety needed for those who could otherwise operate them. This lack of adequate technology leaves far too many people bedridden or totally dependent upon others for mobility, increasing the burden on the healthcare system and decreasing their mental and physical health. The goal of this multi-phase, Fast-Track SBIR project is to develop and commercialize a high-performance Independence-Enhancing Wheelchair (IEW) that is safe and reliable enough to significantly increase the Independence of even the most severely disabled. In Phase I a highly qualified team will assess the feasibility of incorporating a number of proven navigation/sensing/safety systems designed for mobile robots into an innovative design that is capable of attaining the target performance. In addition, we will add a new sensing deice to make semi- autonomous wheelchair navigation safe. Phase II work will be focused upon optimizing, validating, and field-testing the new chair.