Control of a Wheelchair-Mounted 6DOF Assistive Robot With Chin and Finger Joysticks

Frontiers in Robotics and AI, 2022 · DOI: 10.3389/frobt.2022.885610 · Published: July 22, 2022

Simple Explanation

Assistive robots can help meet future healthcare demands, especially with a shortage of caregivers and a growing elderly population. A critical aspect is improving functional independence via an excellent human-machine interface. This research designed a multimodal control method for robotic self-assistance to help individuals with disabilities perform self-care tasks daily, using finger and chin joysticks to control a wheelchair and mounted robotic arm. The developed control framework was tested with healthy individuals performing tasks using both joysticks. The system demonstrated high position accuracy and allowed completion of activities of daily living in under a minute with 100% success.

Study Duration

Not specified

Participants

10 healthy individuals

Evidence Level

Not specified

Key Findings

1
The absolute position accuracy of the robotic system was experimentally found to be approximately 5 mm.
2
The round-trip delay observed between commands while controlling the xArm was 4 ms.
3
The proposed control system allowed individuals to perform some ADLs such as picking up and placing items with a completion time of less than 1 min for each task and 100% success.

Research Summary

This study aimed to develop a multimodal control system to assist individuals with restricted mobility in performing ADL while having control over their mobility and environment. The proposed control system was tested with 10 healthy individuals. The steepest descent method proved to be useful in finding the inverse kinematics model of the robotic arm. Experiments results guarantee that the proposed control framework can suitably be used to maneuver both a powered wheelchair and an assistive robot for ADL assistance using the integrated wheelchair joysticks.

Practical Implications

Improved Independence

The developed system can enhance the independence of individuals with disabilities by enabling them to perform ADLs more easily.

Enhanced Control Modalities

The multimodal control framework provides alternative control options (chin and finger joysticks) catering to different user capabilities.

Future Research

The framework serves as a foundation for future studies involving individuals with upper extremity dysfunctions, paving the way for more personalized assistive technologies.

Study Limitations

1
The study involved only healthy participants; thus, the results may not fully represent the performance and feedback from individuals with actual physical limitations.
2
Task completion time indicated that finger joystick operation was less time-consuming than chin joystick control.
3
Expanding the user input devices and reducing task completion time are identified as future steps.

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