Voice Controlled Wheelchair for People with Disabilities

Abstract

Almost 15% of the planet’s population (approximately 785 million people) suffer from mental or physical disabilities, with 5% of children in this segment, according to a report issued by the World Health Organization. In the whole world, the estimated number of wheelchair users is over 130 million people. It is estimated that only 5–15% of people in need of wheelchairs own and hold one. In countries with a life expectancy of over 70 years, people spend an average of about 8 years or 11.5% of their life, living with a disability [1]. To help people with movement disabilities who suffer from Tetraplegia (complete loss of lower and upper limb movements), we have made a voice-driven mobile platform for movement. The voice recognition system was adapted to a wheelchair and programmed to perform basic movements for patient movement. At the wheelchair used by us has been attached a sensor system to avoid impact with certain objects. For Voice Recognition we used the EasyVR voice recognition module and an Arduino Mega 2560 module. The power side for controlling the two engines was made with IGBT transistors.