Multiple robotic wheelchair system considering group communication

Abstract

In recent years, there has been an increasing demand for elderly care in Japan due to the problems posed by a declining birthrate and an aging population. To deal with the problem, we aim to develop a multiple wheelchair robot system that moves with multiple companions collaboratively. In actual care, we noticed that for a group of four people, which included wheelchair users and their companions they tended to break up into two sets of two (1 wheelchair user and 1 caregiver) to move around or communicate with each other. Based on this observation, we propose a robotic wheelchair system that facilitates coordinated movement between the wheelchairs and the companions while maintaining suitable formations for communication among the group.