Autonomous Wheelchair Indoor-Outdoor Navigation System (AWI-ONS)
Mentor Information
Redwan Alqasemi (College of Engineering)
Description
Individuals with disabilities who use power wheelchairs often have trouble locating accessible routes from their outdoor location to the desired building or from their indoor location to another destination. Powered wheelchair systems can be expanded on with an autonomous control module to navigate the wheelchair independently. Autonomous Wheelchair Indoor-Outdoor Navigation System (AWI-ONS) utilizes Quick Response (QR) code and Global Positioning System (GPS) technologies to communicate between the wheelchair and various locations inside and outside a building. AWI-ONS uses GPS signals and Google Maps for outdoor navigation and QR code technology for indoor navigation. The QR codes are placed in various locations inside the building such as parking lots, doorways, offices, bathrooms, stores, elevators, accessible entrances, and passageways. When the user is indoors, AWI-ONS uses the onboard camera to scan QR codes which will automatically download floorplans of the current building from our Firebase Server, and generate a topological map that is made available to the user through a touch screen user interface. When the user is outdoors, AWI-ONS uses Google Developers’ Maps API to generate an outdoor map of the area. This map will be updated regularly by the signals received from the GPS module that is fitted onto the wheelchair. The user will have the ability to choose the desired destination, and AWI-ONS will use a modified Breadth-First Search Algorithm to find the most viable path to that destination. This new navigation system is expected to help people with mobility constraints to reach their destination safely and independently.
Autonomous Wheelchair Indoor-Outdoor Navigation System (AWI-ONS)
Individuals with disabilities who use power wheelchairs often have trouble locating accessible routes from their outdoor location to the desired building or from their indoor location to another destination. Powered wheelchair systems can be expanded on with an autonomous control module to navigate the wheelchair independently. Autonomous Wheelchair Indoor-Outdoor Navigation System (AWI-ONS) utilizes Quick Response (QR) code and Global Positioning System (GPS) technologies to communicate between the wheelchair and various locations inside and outside a building. AWI-ONS uses GPS signals and Google Maps for outdoor navigation and QR code technology for indoor navigation. The QR codes are placed in various locations inside the building such as parking lots, doorways, offices, bathrooms, stores, elevators, accessible entrances, and passageways. When the user is indoors, AWI-ONS uses the onboard camera to scan QR codes which will automatically download floorplans of the current building from our Firebase Server, and generate a topological map that is made available to the user through a touch screen user interface. When the user is outdoors, AWI-ONS uses Google Developers’ Maps API to generate an outdoor map of the area. This map will be updated regularly by the signals received from the GPS module that is fitted onto the wheelchair. The user will have the ability to choose the desired destination, and AWI-ONS will use a modified Breadth-First Search Algorithm to find the most viable path to that destination. This new navigation system is expected to help people with mobility constraints to reach their destination safely and independently.
