Development of Controller for Electric Wheelchair using Pressure in Front of Mouth and Cheek Sensors

Advancement of assistive technology has played an instrumental role in developing varied wheelchair controllers for people with severe disabilities. The principal objective of this study is to provide greater independence to people whose bodies are paralyzed below the neck as they cannot use the traditional joystick. A non-invasive and non-intrusive wheelchair controller designed using one pressure sensor (MPS20N0040D-S), two touch sensors (TTP223), and an Arduino controller, is presented here. The pressure sensor is connected to a pipe and is placed inside the mouth of the user. By varying the air pressure from the user's mouth, it can control the forward and backward movement of the wheelchair. Two touch sensors are integrated into the head gear and placed adjacent to the cheeks of the user to move the wheelchair in the left and right direction. Ten healthy and 5 paraplegic subjects, both genders, volunteered to test the accuracy and robustness of the developed wheelchair controller. It was observed that all users successfully navigated the path with no collision or difficulty. Pressure and touch sensors responded efficiently and correctly to the forward, backward, left, and right commands respectively with 98% accuracy. As an extension to this work, authors plan to develop a wheelchair to assist visually impaired individuals.