Proceedings of the 1

st
Computer-Integrated Surgery Workshop, BME Budapest, 2011
41

Proposed Algorithm for Wireless Control of
Electric Wheelchair by Head Movement

Aleksandar Pajkanovic (aleksandar.pajkanovic@etfbl.net)
Faculty of Electrical Engineering Banja Luka

During first decades of 20th century, George Klein invented wheelchair powered by
electric motors. Since then this device has been greatly improved. Unfortunately, this
kind of wheelchair can be operated only by patients who are not able to control their
lower limbs (paraplegics). Those who are not able to control any of their limbs
(quadriplegics), cannot operate the wheelchair, since joystick and a set of switches needs
to be pressed to start and stop the motors. An important application of modern
technologies is in the field of medical devices. These devices become more efficient every
day, but have been greatly improved by wireless technologies. Wi-Fi, Zig-Bee and
Bluetooth are used in many different ways to ease everyday life of patients. Since there is
no any cords or wires, easier control of the devices and movement are enabled [1-2].
In this paper we propose an algorithm which allows quadriplegics to control electric
wheelchair by head movements. The algorithm has been tested on a prototype of a
created microcontroller system.
The mentioned prototype includes two subsystems (Fig. 1). A remote controller is
attached to the head of the patient, and a motor control unit is attached to the motors of
the wheelchair.


Fig. 1. Block diagram of the developed system.

Remote controller consists of an accelerometer, microcontroller and a Bluetooth
communication module. A microcontroller interprets the data generated by the
accelerometer. The output based on the interpretation of the mentioned data consists of
Proceedings of the 1
st
Computer-Integrated Surgery Workshop, BME Budapest, 2011
42
predefined states of motion of the wheelchair. This state is then forwarded to the
Bluetooth communication module, which sends the state to the motor control unit.
Motor control unit consists of a Bluetooth communication module, a microcontroller
and a driver of the electric motors. The communication module receives the state of
motion sent by the microcontroller of the remote controller. The state is forwarded to
the microcontroller of the motor control unit, which, in response, gives PWM pulses to
the driver of the electric motor.
Microcontroller used in this paper is an Atmel ATmega16 [3]. Of many peripherals of
this microcontroller, a serial port and an AD convertor are used. Bluetooth
communication module used in this paper is a Parallax RBT-001, which communicates
with a microcontroller over a serial port. Data and commands between the
microcontroller and the module are exchanged using a protocol defined in the manual of
the module [4]. Accelerometer used is ADXL330 attached to a Mikroe Accell Board. The
outputs of this device are analog voltages which are converted to digital using the AD
convertor of the microcontroller [5].
The algorithm is actually implemented within the microcontroller of the remote
controller. This is the point where head movement recognition happens. When the
movements are recognized appropriate actions are taken, so that these movements are
translated into commands given to the motors.
The patient has four basic possibilities head movement forward, backward, right or
left. These movements change their meaning as the state of the motion of the wheelchair
changes (Fig. 2). For example, if the wheelchair is in the state of still, patient, by moving
his head forward, gives command to start moving the wheelchair forward and, by moving
his head backward, gives command to start moving the wheelchair backwards. Let it be
that he gave command to move forward. Now, in this state, state of moving forward first
gear, the same head movements are translated different. Moving his head forward, the
patient will accelerate the wheelchair, and moving his head backward he will stop the
wheelchair.


Fig. 2. Diagram of states (interpretation of a given head movement in each state)

Beside these basic features, the algorithm offers some more. First of all, methods to
eliminate errors in movement recognition are implemented: if the patient falls asleep, his
head falling on his chest or any of the shoulders, this will be recognized, and wheelchair
will not move; if the remote controller falls of the head of the patient, this will also be
recognized and the wheelchair will immediately stop; even though accelerometer will
Proceedings of the 1
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Computer-Integrated Surgery Workshop, BME Budapest, 2011
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report acceleration when transferring from one of the states into another, these glitches
are recognized and eliminated through the algorithm.
The algorithm is very fault-tolerant, but it needs to be very carefully tuned for every
specific patient. The system has been tested on electric wheelchair model Puma
Powerchair.
As a result of this research, an algorithm for wireless control of the electric wheelchair
by head movements is developed and implemented in a prototype system. In further
research the algorithm will be enhanced by adding new features and optimizing both the
software and hardware. Thus there will be new modes of work, more energy efficient
(park mode, sleep mode, etc.). Also, energy efficiency will be worked upon by exploring
other hardware components (low-power consumption microcontrollers) and
communication protocols (ZigBee, WiFi).

References
[1] J. Y. Hwang, J. M. Kang, Y. W. Jang, H. C. Kim, Developmentof Novel Algorithm and Real-Time
Monitoring Ambulatory System Using Bluetooth Module for Fall Detection in the Elderly,
Proceedings of the 26th Annual International Conference of the IEEE EMBS, September 2004, pp
2204-2207.
[2] Jens Andreasson, Mikael Ekstrom, Ali Fard, Javier Garcia Castano and Tord Johnson, Remote System for
Patient Monitoring Using Bluetooth, Proceedings of Sensors IEEE, November 2002, vol. 1, pp 304-
307.
[3] AVR atmega16 datasheet, http://www.atmel.com/dyn/resources/prod_documents/doc2466.pdf visited:
march, 2011.
[4]Parallax RBT-001 Bluetooth module datasheet, http://www.mikroe.com/pdf/bluetooth/rbt-001_ds.pdf
visited: march, 2011.
[5] Mikroe Accell Board datasheet, http://www.mikroe.com/eng/products/view/133/three-axis-
accelerometer-board/ visited: march, 2011.