Preferred temporal characteristics of an advance notification system for autonomous powered wheelchair

Abstract

In a rapidly aged society, providing mobility aids such as motorized wheelchairs is becoming increasingly important. Such low-speed vehicles have recently been developed with autonomous locomotion capabilities. In order to enhance the security and safety offered by these vehicles, human-machine interfaces are needed to inform the rider about the path of locomotion that is being taken. In this research we developed a prototype steering interface that provides haptic information to the rider about the locomotion of the vehicle. Initial experiments using a powered wheelchair simulator were performed to study the most acceptable temporal characteristics of the system in terms of the timing of the information provided to the rider. © 2011 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.