電動車いすを安全に誘導する先導ロボットシステムの動作シミュレーション

抄録

Many people would benefit from an intelligent wheelchair that is a power wheelchair to which sensors, computers, and assistive technologies are attached. However, the sufficient performance of intelligent wheelchairs cannot be obtained at indoor crossroad due to the blind spot of the sensors. In this paper, to improve the safety in environment like that, we develop a leading robot to guide safely power wheelchairs.

 The leading robot is equipped with several sensors and precedes power wheelchairs. Then, the leading robot guides power wheelchairs while checking the safety of the surroundings. The leading robot detects the obstacle ahead of the power wheelchairs by the sensor on the leading robot, and the power wheelchairs can safely avoid the obstacle. In addition, blind spots of sensors can be reduced, since the leading robot is free to mount sensors. Therefore, the system can ensure sufficient safety.

 In this paper, we realize the motion algorithm of a leading robot by the virtual potential field method to avoid dynamic obstacles such as pedestrians at indoor environment. Then, we execute the motion simulation of the leading robot system at an indoor crossroad, and we confirm the effectiveness of the system.