Smart Mobility Solutions: Developing A Hand Gesture-Based Wheelchair with Multi-Modal Control

Abstract

According to the World Health Organization's (WHO) and World Bank's 2011 World Report on Disability, over a billion people worldwide roughly 15% of the total population live with a disability. Many of these people depend on wheelchairs for movement. There are currently several wheelchair choices available on the market, ranging in price from 80,000 to 1,500,000, and operated by joysticks, voice instructions, or head movements. However, the single-directional control mechanisms of these models might make independent operation difficult, which limits many users. Our goal is to create a "hand gesture-controlled wheelchair" that can be used with either hand and controlled by a partner in case the user cannot do so on their own. A Raspberry Pi-based device, such as the Raspberry Pi4, is used to implement this work. In this project, we are implementing a wheelchair with three modes: a mobile control wheelchair, a joystick-controlled wheelchair, and a gesture-controlled wheelchair that uses an accelerometer.