Development of intelligent wheelchair employing omni-directional camera and slightly tilted laser rangefinder

Because of the increasing size of the elderly sector of Japanese society, the need for an intelligent wheelchair has increased. This paper presents the development of an intelligent wheelchair for elderly persons. In order to assist the maneuvering of the intelligent wheelchair, we employed an omni-directional camera and a slightly tilted laser rangefinder. By using this combination of sensors, the vehicle can identify the difference in level between a sidewalk and other surfaces. The vehicle can also recognize a white line between a sidewalk and a roadway by utilizing an omni-directional camera. As a result, it can travel on a sidewalk automatically without difficulty. The proposed method is verified experimentally in practical outdoor environments.