Artificial intelligence improves
a wheelchair system that could give paralyzed people greater mobility.
(September 13, 2010) A robotic wheelchair combines brain control
with artificial intelligence to make it easier for people to maneuver it using
only their thoughts. The approach, known as “shared control,” could help
paralyzed people gain new mobility by turning crude brain signals into more
complicated commands.
The wheelchair, developed by
researchers at the Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne, features
software that can take a simple command like “go left” and assess the immediate
area to figure out how to follow the command without hitting anything. The
software can also understand when the driver wants to navigate to a particular
object, like a table.
Several technologies allow
patients to control computers, prosthetics, and other devices using signals
captured from nerves, muscles, or the brain. Electroencephalography (EEG) has
emerged as a promising way for paralyzed patients to control computers or
wheelchairs. A user needs to wear a skullcap and undergo training for a few
hours a day over about five days. Patients control the chair simply by
imagining they are moving a part of the body. Thinking of moving the left hand
tells the chair to turn left, for example. Commands can also be triggered by
specific mental tasks, such as arithmetic.