FSR-Based Smart System for Detection of Wheelchair Sitting Postures Using Machine Learning Algorithms and Techniques

Abstract

This paper presents an intelligent system containing FSR-based posture detection using machine learning algorithms. This paper is aimed at detecting the sitting posture of a wheelchair user. Individuals using wheelchairs are at increased risk of pressure ulcers when they hold an incorrect position for too long because the blood supply desists at some points of their skin due to increased pressure. The main objective of this research is to find a better configuration combined with the best machine learning algorithm for the detection of posture to prevent pressure ulcers. In the proposed monitoring system, two configurations consisting of a 3×3 matrix configuration (9 sensors) and a crossconfiguration (5 sensors) of FSR sensors are embedded on a wheelchair seat to get pressure data generated and collected in a real-time processing unit and then compared. The posture recognition is performed for five sitting positions: ideal, backward-leaning, forward-leaning, right-leaning, and left-leaning based on five machine learning algorithms: K-nearest neighbors (K-NN), logistic regression (LR), decision tree (DT), support vector machines (SVM), and LightGBM. The research study provides a system to detect a real-time pressure sitting posture on a processing unit (laptop) wirelessly using the ESP32 module. Consequently, a posture classification accuracy of up to 95.41% is accomplished using a 3×3 matrix configuration. The proposed system helps prevent pressure ulcers and is valuable in risk assessment related to pressure ulcers. This system describes the relationship between accuracy, different sensor configurations, and performance of the multiple machine learning algorithms.