Abstract This paper presents a new study on the obstacle-climbing ability of Stair-Climbing Mobility Systems (SCMSs), taking into account the effects related to the presence of geometric disturbances on the obstacles. In this research, we use an SCMS that combines two different locomotion mechanisms to climb up and down stairs: one based on wheels and the other based on Sliding Supports. The combination of these mechanisms allows stairs of different sizes, and even stairs with geometric disturbances such as stairs with irregular or uneven treads, to be surpassed. However, the difficulty of the obstacle-climbing problem increases if the stair height is either large or its geometry is altered, in which case the obstacle climbing ability, and consequently the user’s safety may be highly compromised. In order to increase its adaptability to large-sized stairs and to reduce the effect of geometric disturbances, two important improvements have been made to the previous SCMS. One of these has been achieved by incorporating appropriate drive systems and redesigning the mechanisms that control the wheels. Thanks to this, the proposed SCMS is more lightweight and easy to control, and is above all more robust to geometric disturbances on the obstacles. The other concerns the trajectory planning, which has been improved by using a strategy that allows the size and shape of the stair to be estimated and accordingly allows a smooth and accurate reference trajectory to be tracked. This strategy is based on information obtained from laser distance sensors. This second improvement simplifies the control problem, reduces the time needed to surpass stairs and improves the user’s safety and comfort. Experimental results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed improvements when the SCMS climbs/descends staircases when both considering and not considering the effects of geometric disturbances on the steps.
This paper describes trajectory planning for a stair-climbing mobility system (SCMS). The planning is based on the results obtained from an estimation of the dimensions of the stairs. The strategy used to estimate the stairs' dimensions considers scanning the surface of the stairs using two laser distance sensors, which are attached to the chassis of the system. This strategy can be also used to calculate the distance from the system to the staircase. The strategy contemplates a process with whi...
Nov 1, 2013 in IROS (Intelligent Robots and Systems)
#1Ren C. Luo(NTU: National Taiwan University)H-Index: 13
#2Ming Hsiao(NTU: National Taiwan University)H-Index: 7
Last. Tsung-Wei Lin(NTU: National Taiwan University)H-Index: 3
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In this paper, an automatic erect stair climbing mobile robot is developed for indoor service applications. The design of high center of mass, tilt axis near ground, and the triangular wheel-legged structure enable the robot to climb stairs in a dynamic and self-balancing way. The wheel-legged mechanism also keeps the advantages of differential-wheeled mobile platforms when moving on flat ground, such as easy to control, saving power, and zero turning radius. Moreover, the overall mechanical des...
This paper deals with the development of a new mobility concept for disabled and elderly people. The focus of our project is a wheelchair which can climb stairs. In order to give the user maximum freedom regarding absolute mobility, the wheelchair has to suitable for indoor and outdoor usage and therefore be extremely manoeuvrable. A further goal is the integration of the wheelchair into a car. With its help the user is able to travel longer distances independently by car.
Abstract In this study, we propose a new kinematic control for a robotic stair-climbing mechanism which allows successful obstacle surpassing when faced with typical architectural barriers such as curbs, ramps or staircases while maintaining the passenger's comfort and the seat's inclination within security margins. The scheme also takes into account perturbations in the system due to the fact that the environment is not perfectly known. The actuated degrees of freedom in charge of the locomotio...
#1Taro Fujikawa(Chiba Institute of Technology)H-Index: 4
#2Shuro Nakajima(Chiba Institute of Technology)H-Index: 10
We propose a supporting system for automatic control of personal mobility vehicles (PMVs) to pass through a narrow space in indoor environment. This system consists of IR markers located on an entrance of a narrow space and an IR sensor to mount on a PMV. An IR sensor calculates relative distance between itself and an IR marker and angle of approach to pass through on a marker. To validate the proposed system we perform both experiments to estimate accuracy of calculated relative distance and an...
Last. Rory A. Cooper(University of Pittsburgh)H-Index: 73
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The Personal Mobility and Manipulation Appliance (PerMMA) is a recently developed personal assistance robot developed to provide people with disabilities and older adults enhanced assistance in both mobility and manipulation, which are two fundamental components for independently activities of daily life performing, community participation, and quality of life. Technologies to assist with mobility and manipulation are among the most important tools for clinicians, end users and caregivers; howev...
This paper describes stair locomotive wheelchair with adjustable wheelbase. Recently, development of stair locomotive wheelchair has been carried out due to the increase in wheelchair users. However, their wheelchair is limited to climb only same size of stairs. This is because the wheelbase can not be changed, is inferred. Thus, we propose stair locomotive wheelchair with adjustable wheelbase. In particular, motion strategy when travelling stairs and relation between wheelbase and stairs size, ...
Jun 6, 2012 in ICIA (International Conference on Information and Automation)
#1Suyang Yu(Shenyang Institute of Automation)H-Index: 4
#2Ting Wang(Shenyang Institute of Automation)H-Index: 8
Last. Zhidong Wang(Chiba Institute of Technology)H-Index: 22
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This paper introduces an originally designed wheelchair robot equipped with a novel type of Variable Geometry Single Tracked Mechanism (VGSTM) that can actively control the robot shape and the track tension. So it becomes possible to improve the obstacle clearing capability of the robot by adapting the robot shape for the obstacle. Tip-over and slippage for track typed mobile robots are intractable problems especially in stair-climbing, which is the most fundamental obstacle clearing performance...
Loss of physical mobility makes maximal participation in desired activities more difficult and in the worst case fully prevents participation. This paper surveys recent work in assistive technology to improve mobility for persons with a disability, drawing on examples observed during a tour of academic and industrial research sites in Europe. The underlying theme of this recent work is a more seamless integration of the capabilities of the user and the assistive technology. This improved integra...
#2Walter Franco(Polytechnic University of Turin)H-Index: 8
Last. Riccardo Oderio(Polytechnic University of Turin)H-Index: 6
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Abstract The paper deals with Wheelchair.q, a concept for a stair climbing wheelchair capable of moving in structured and unstructured environments, climbing over obstacles and going up and down stairs. The design of the wheelchair, consisting of a frame, a seat and a four-bar linkage mechanism that connects frame and seat, is presented. The four-bar linkage moves and rotates the chair to prevent the wheelchair from overturning and to guarantee a comfortable posture to the passenger during diffe...
Abstract This report describes an automatic control system that allows an assistive robot pushing a wheelchair to climb steps. The robot is equipped with a wheeled mechanism and dual manipulators. The wheelchair is a commercially available model that has been equipped with sensors, circuits, and batteries. The robot and wheelchair are connected when the vehicles climb a step. In that operation, the front wheels of the wheelchair are lifted and placed on the step using the velocity differences be...
Last. S. Sujatha(Indian Institute of Technology Madras)H-Index: 5
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Abstract Motorized designs of stair-climbing wheelchairs available in western countries are heavy and expensive, and hence, unsuitable for developing countries. Manually operated solutions for stair-climbing wheelchairs also tend to be bulky and complex. As stair-climbing is an occasional activity for wheelchair users, having a built-in stair-climbing mechanism results in complexity and redundancy. In this work, an add-on device is envisaged, which requires the wheelchair to be mounted onto the ...
#1Kang Xu(BIT: Beijing Institute of Technology)H-Index: 1
Abstract Wheel-legged robots operating on the ground experience real-time interactions with the complex unknown terrain, which may lead to tilting of the whole body and instability if no regulated effort is made. Maintaining a horizontal posture of the whole body with changes in the terrain geometry via impedance control (IC) that is widely used in many fields is desirable to be realized. However, because the stiffness and location of the terrain relative to the robot are not known in advance, t...
Stairs are common obstacles in indoor environments and are difficult to overcome for robots. The speed of robot stair-climbing should be similar to that of humans for commercial products, but their speed remains limited. Additionally, the variety of dimensions of stairs is also a significant problem for robust stair-climbing by robots. In this paper, a curved spoke-based tri-wheel mechanism is proposed for fast and robust stair-climbing. The goal speed of stair-climbing is similar to the human s...
This article introduces a framework for assisting dependent people at home through a vision-based autonomous unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV). Such an aircraft equipped with onboard cameras can be useful for monitoring and recognizing a dependent’s activity. This work is focused on the problem of planning the flight path of a quadrotor to perform monitoring tasks. The objective is to design a trajectory planning algorithm that allows the UAV to position itself for the sake of capturing images of th...
#2Walter Franco(Polytechnic University of Turin)H-Index: 8
Last. Matteo Nisi(Polytechnic University of Turin)H-Index: 4
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In this paper, an electric stair-climbing wheelchair, named wheelchair.q05, able to move on flat ground and to climb stairs, is presented. The proposed solution has been developed through a series of studies and designs, all based on a smart hybrid triple leg-wheel locomotion unit. The stability of the device is guaranteed by a rear support of a pair of pivoting wheels during motion on flat ground, and by the support of an idle track, when climbing on or going down stairs. By means of mechanisms...
Recent advances in mobile robotic technologies have enabled significant progress to be made in the development of Stair-Climbing Mobility Systems (SCMSs) for people with mobility impairments and limitations. These devices are mainly characterized by their ability to negotiate those architectural barriers associated with climbing stairs (curbs, ramps, etc.). The development of advanced trajectory generators with which to surpass such architectural barriers is one of the most important aspects of ...
#1Weijun Tao(Nanjing University of Science and Technology)H-Index: 4
#2Junyi Xu(Nanjing University of Science and Technology)H-Index: 1
Last. Tao Liu(ZJU: Zhejiang University)H-Index: 22
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As an autonomic and convenient assistance device for people with disabilities and the elderly climbing up and down stairs, electric-powered wheelchairs with stair-climbing ability have attracted gr...
#2Matteo Nisi(Polytechnic University of Turin)H-Index: 4
This paper presents a new version of Wheelchair.q, a wheelchair with stair climbing ability. The wheelchair is able to climb single obstacles or staircases thanks to a hybrid wheel-leg locomotion unit with a triple-wheels cluster architecture. The new concept presented in this work represents an improvement respect to previous versions. Through a different arrangement of functional elements, the wheelchair performances in terms of stability and regularity during movement on stair have been incre...
