Non-contact head gesture maneuvering system for electric wheelchair using a depth sensor

Population of elderly people has been increasing not only in Japan but also in many countries. For the purpose of expanding the active field of them and persons with disabilities, and of improving their quality of life (QOL), the development of an intelligent wheelchair has been intensively studied. In this research, a new maneuver interface of the electric wheelchair instead of the joy-stick is considered. To develop such an interface, this paper deals with a simple non-contact detection method of horizontal head gesture motion using a depth sensor.