Bézier curve based trajectory planning for an intelligent wheelchair to pass a doorway

Door passing is the basic capability of an intelligent wheelchair. This paper presents a novel approach to address the door passing issue using Bézier curve based trajectory planning. The planed path consists of two segments: one from corridor to door and the other from door to the goal position. For each segment, an optimal Bézier curve is generated as a reference trajectory for an intelligent wheelchair to travel smoothly and accurately subject to corridor constraints, curvature limitation and obstacles. The simulation is conducted to verify the feasibility of the proposed approach, and the results show a good performance in terms of tracking accuracy and good maneuverability.