Improvement of a Joystick Controller for Electric Wheelchair User

Masatomo Shibata¹, Chao Zhang¹, Takakazu Ishimatsu¹, Motohiro Tanaka², Joel Palomino³

¹Nagasaki University Graduate School of Engineering, Nagasaki University, Nagasaki, Japan.
²Department of Transportation Mechanics, Kurume Institute of Technology, Kurume, Japan.
³Pontificia Universidad Catolica del Peru, Lima, Peru.

DOI: 10.4236/mme.2015.54013                

Abstract

The electric wheelchair is an effective machine for people with lower limb disability. The user controls the wheelchair by a joystick that helps the user to navigate the wheelchair along the desired path. Suppose the user on the wheelchair wants to operate the computer for his jobs or enjoyment, it is preferable for the user to be able to operate the computer without transferring from the wheelchair to a computer desk. Of course, some computer input devices are available for wheelchairs. One reasonable idea is to use the familiar joystick on the wheelchair as a computer input device. In this paper a joystick controller is proposed, which enables the user on the wheelchair to operate the computer settled on a nearby table. The proposed joystick controller can be achieved by mounting the sensor unit on the joystick without any modification of the conventional wheelchair controller. The principle of the sensing unit is to measure the inclination angle and the direction of the joystick with an acceleration and gyro sensor. Then the sensing unit sends the control data to the computer via an infrared or wireless signal. This proposal is based on a request done by the wheelchair users.

Keywords

Wheelchair, Joystick, Communication, Computer Interface

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

References

[1]	Fukuda, Y., Tanaka, M., Moromugi, S. and Ishimatsu T. (2003) Communication Device or Disabled Slight Movement Capabilities. International Journal of Human-friendly Welfare Robotic Systems, 4, 7-12.
[2]	Takami, O., Morimoto, K., Ochiai, T. and Ishimatsu T. (1995) Computer Interface to Use Head and Eyeball Movement for Handicapped People. IEEE International Conference of System, Man and Cybernetics, Vancouver, 22-25 October 1995, Vol. 2, 1119-1123. http://dx.doi.org/10.1109/icsmc.1995.537920
[3]	Microchip Technology Inc. (2014) MPLAB Harmony Integrated Software Framework. http://www.microchip.com/pagehandler/en_us/devtools/mplabharmony/home.html
[4]	Bernstein, J. (2003) An Overview of MEMS Inertial Sensing Technology. Corning-IntelliSense Corp. http://www.sensorsmag.com/sensors/acceleration-vibration/an-overview-mems-inertial-sensing-technology-970
[5]	Zhang, C., Ishimatsu, T., Yu, J.L., Lawn, M. and Shi, L. (2015) Vision-based Displacement Sensor for People with Serious Spinal Cord Injury. 2015 IEEE International Conference on Mechatronics and Automation (ICMA), Beijing, 2-5 August 2015, 772-777.
[6]	Yu, J., Ishimatsu, T., Murray, L. and Tanaka, M. (2015) Pillow-Type Computer Input Device for Serious Spinal Cord Injury. Modern Mechanical Engineering, 5, 61-68. http://dx.doi.org/10.4236/mme.2015.53006
[7]	Yu, J., Ishimatsu, T., Shiraishi, N., Lawn, M., Zhang, C. and Tanaka, M. (2015) Face Mount Computer Input Device for Serious Disabled. 2015 IEEE 5th International Conference on Big data and Cloud Computing (BDCloud), Dalian, 26-28 August 2015, 195-198. http://dx.doi.org/10.1109/BDCloud.2015.29