Development of a leading robot system that safely guides electric wheelchairs in place of a caregiver

2023 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 19K12885
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Review Section: Basic Section 90150:Medical assistive technology-related
• Research Institution: Tomakomai National College of Technology
• Principal Investigator: Hori Katushiro 苫小牧工業高等専門学校, 創造工学科, 教授 (90261388)
• Project Period (FY): 2019-04-01 – 2024-03-31
• Keywords: 電動車いす / 先導ロボット / 安全 / 誘導 / 介護者 / 支援システム

Outline of Final Research Achievements

Intelligent electric wheelchairs equipped with sensors, computers, and user support functions have failed to perform adequately in environments where sensor blind spots exist. In this research, we proposed a leading robot that safely guides electric wheelchairs in place of a caregiver, and developed a new electric wheelchair user support system based on the leading robot. The leading robot can detect a wide range of obstacles that cannot be detected from the view pf the electric wheelchair, and we confirmed the effectiveness by the experiments with the prototype robot system.

Free Research Field

ロボット工学

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

これまで電動車いすの高機能化に関して，電動車いす自体の知能化に関する研究は多数なされているが，本研究のように，先導ロボットを開発・導入して，電動車いすを安全に誘導することで，電動車いすの安全性や操作性を向上する研究は見当たらず独自性がある。また，先導ロボットは介護者に代わる存在として，介護者不足への対応や，さらに従来無かった新しい機能の実現へ展開できる可能性があり，次世代電動車いすの技術革新に貢献できるものと考える。