Amrita University develops self-driving wheelchair to make mobility easier!

A self-driving wheelchair can ease the mobility issues for disabled people in a large way. That is just what a bunch of researchers from Amrita University has developed!

A few members from the Electronics and Communications Engineering Department of Amrita University in Coimbatore were in the look out to create something unique for a project that came under their University’s Humanitarian Technology Lab. What better way other than creating something useful for people with disabilities and the elderly as well! Hence, this self-driving wheelchair was born.

The wheelchair runs in three modes which include the automated, fixed automatic and manual modes.

The fully automated mode helps the user to move in a mapped area. The fixed automatic mode will enable the person to move from their position to any other position in the mapped area. Manual mode will facilitate them to move around freely using a navigation system which will be under their control.

This self-driving wheelchair has a lidar and ultrasonic sensors to find any obstacles in their path. The sensors will detect obstacles that are at least 20 cms away.

The user also has the freedom to choose the speed in which the wheelchair has to move.

The team who developed this wheelchair had to begin from scratch. But with the help of the university, their colleagues and students, this self driven wheelchair has become a reality!

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