Three students from Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham, a multi-disciplinary research university in India, have developed a self-driving wheelchair on their campus in Kerala. The engineering students Chinta Ravi Teja, Sarath Sreekanth and Akhil Raj worked with their mentor and professor, Dr. Rajesh Kannan Megalingam, to create the Self-E wheelchair.
A Simple Yet Smooth Ride
The source of the autonomous navigation is derived from the chair’s Robotic Operating System (ROS) — it creates a map of the surrounding area and any present obstacles (both stationary and moving) using a laser called LiDAR. This map is connected to an app on the user’s smartphone named Mudra, allowing them to pick any point within it. One touch on the generated map and the Self-E will automatically calculate and execute the best route; no user intervention needed. The app does not need an Internet or GPS connection, and the wheelchair itself is battery powered (and can be easily recharged.)
An Innovative Roll Forward
With over 3.6 million people in the US requiring the use of a wheelchair, the technology developed by the 21-year-olds is indispensable. They are already working on bringing it to the market; while the Self-E currently costs a little over $1,800, they’re trying to bring it down to the more affordable $1,500.
“This is the cheapest wheelchair in the world, as we used only one LiDAR sensor, a wheelchair, and a mobile phone, and there is no other extra controlling device.”
A Shocking Development
The Self-E isn’t the only wheelchair technology making headlines: Softwheel, a wheelchair company in Israel, just signed a deal with the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs to provide shock-absorbent wheels to military veterans — they simply request the chairs at their local VA and are issued a reimbursement for the chair’s cost (around $2,500.) Being in a wheelchair doesn’t mean you aren’t active, and Israeli entrepreneur Gilad Wolf understood that. His wheel, The Acrobat, has a built-in suspension system to handle all terrain types. Ahishay Sardes, CTO of SoftWheel, explains:
“The suspension arms are rigid when they go over flat services. They activate as shock absorbers only when an obstacle is encountered. This enables the rider to go over bumps, such as sidewalk curbs, in a more stable and secure manner.”
Advancements in technology take leaps and bounds every single day; it would appear they do their fair share of rolling as well.
