VSB ENGINEERING COLLEGE

KARUR

PARER PRESENTATION
ON

HEAD MOTION CONTROLLED POWER

WHEELCHAIR

SUBMITTED BY

HARI

3rd year EEE

1
 HEAD MOTION CONTROLLED POWER
WHEELCHAIR

INTRODUCTION:
individuals who don’t have use of their
Quadriplegia or tetraplegia is a condition
arms and legs (quadriplegics) encounter.
that occurs when a part of the spinal cord
Without a means to free move around, they
inside the neck has been injured. This
are totally dependent on others. The goal
injury causes loss of feeling and
of independent living cannot possibly be
movement in the arms, legs, and trunk.
achieved in this manner. Therefore, it is
The damage affects the nerve fibers
their priority to be able to mechanically
passing through the injured area and may
move their bodies under their own
impair part or all of the corresponding
command.
muscles and nerves below the injury site.
EXISTING SYSTEM:
Spinal injuries occur most frequently in
the neck (cervical) and lower back Earlier, the system which used just

(thoracic and lumbar) areas. A thoracic or controls the movement of the wheel chair

lumbar injury can affect physiologic automatically by using the keypad alone.

functions. A cervical injury may affect It does not detect the object opposite to it.

breathing as well as movements of the This is one drawback by using this system.

upper and lower limbs. For Severe To avoid this we go for a new system.

Quadriplegics, the only residual movement Modern power wheelchairs for

present is the head so it is mandatory to quadriplegics commonly use one of two

use this movement to enhance the mobility control mechanisms. The first involves

of the patient to control the movement of controlling the wheelchair with a

the wheelchair. controller that lies in the mouth, while the

other is known as a “Sip and Puff” system
NEED:
which requires user to suck or blow air
It is well recognized that the lack of
through tubes in front of the mouth to
mobility is one of the most limiting
control wheelchair functions. These
disabilities that estimated 50,000
control options are expensive and also

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interfere directly with the user’s ability to
communicate while operating the chair.

PROPOSED SYSTEM: BLOCK DIAGRAM:

This paper describes a head
controlled assist system developed using
an electronic and mechanical arrangement Accelerometer
Accelerometer
Power
Power
sensor Supply
sensor Supply
(MEMS) controlled by a Programmable
Interface Controller. Sensor accelerometer
placed on the patient’s head sensed the tilt
S.C.U RELAY DC motor
S.C.U RELAY
made by the head. This tilt corresponded Driver
Driver
DC motor
1
1
to the analog voltage. Using this voltage,
PIC
PIC
control signals were generated for four Ultrasonic
Ultrasonic M.C
sensor
M.C
directions of the wheelchair. sensor
RELAY
RELAY DC motor
Driver DC motor
Driver 2
S.C.U 2
The ultrasonic sensor here used to S.C.U

detect the objects opposite to the wheel

chair, if any object means it intimates
through LCD. All these control
LCD
information are fetched in the LCD
DISPLA
DISPLA
Y
microcontroller using embedded C coding. Y
DI
Control of the robot is done by using the DI
Fig. shows the overall structure of the
relays; relays are the electromagnetic
assist system that is composed of Sensor
switch which activates the motors that
design, the Electronic module and the
used in the robot according to the given
Mechanical module. The Sensor design
instruction by microcontroller.
comprises of Tri-axis Accelerometer and
signal conditioning unit (S.C.U). The
electronic module has a PIC
Microcontroller and the mechanical
module consists of a Driver IC and
Motors. The Tri-Axis Accelerometer is an
integrated module that can sense

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gravitational (g) force of ±3g on three axes SOFTWARE REQUIREMENTS:
(X, Y, and Z). A switch placed on the
 Embedded C
headrest of the wheelchair is meant for the
 MPLAB IDE or CCS C Compiler
purpose of ON and OFF action. Acquiring
measurements from the module is CONCLUSION:
simplified through a synchronous serial
The head movement based assist system
interface. Single and multi-axis models are
was developed with an idea of serving the
available to detect magnitude and direction
people affected with high level
of the acceleration as a vector quantity.
Quadriplegia. In this case, the assist
Single axis measures the force in any of
system has proven to be of a simple
the three directions namely X, Y or Z. Due
implementation and of low cost. The result
to this disadvantage, tri-axis accelerometer
obtained clearly implies that the system is
is used for this application. Based on the
easy to handle by the patients. This paper
sensitivity, accuracy and supply voltage,
can be further extended to thought
acceleration to voltage conversion is
recognition module for controlling the
performed. The Electronic module
speed and movement of the wheelchair,
comprises a homework board that has an
Obstacles on the pathway can be identified
8-bit flash based Programmable Interface
and the directions of the movement can be
Controller, an EEPROM with a fixed
controlled using ultrasonic sensor.
program, a Voltage regulator and reset
circuitry to control the operation of the
Assist system.

HARDWARE REQUIREMENTS:
 PIC Microcontroller.
 Ultrasonic sensor.
 Accelerometer Sensor.
 S.C.U.
 Relays with Driver unit.
 Robot Mechanism.
 LCD.

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 Factory Automation, Hamburg, 15-
18September.

4] Smith B, Buckett JR, Peckham PH, et

al. “An Externally Powered, Multichannel
implantable Stimulator for Versatile
Control of Paralyzed Muscle,” IEEE Trans
Biomed Eng 1987;Pages 499-508.

[5] A Ferreira, R L Silva, W C Celeste, T F

BastosFilho and M Sarcinelli Filho,
”Human –Machine Interface Based on
Muscular and Brain Signal Applied to a
Robotic Wheelchair,”Journal of
NeuroEngineering And Rehabilitation
2008, 5:10.

REFERENCES: [6] Chris Aimone, Ryan Fung, Ashish

Khisti, Meghal Varia,” HEAD Mounted
[1] Henrik Vie Christensen a and Juan
Control System,” in press.
Carlos Garcia b,"Infrared Non-Contact
Head Sensor, for Control of Wheelchair [7] Roberto Merletti , Philip A. Parker.
Movements,” Book Title Book Editors “Electromyography- Physiology,
IOS Press, 2003. Engineering and Non-invasive
Applications”.
[2] James M Ford,Saleem J.Sheredos, “
Ultrasonic Head Controller For Powered
Wheelchair,” Journal of Rehabilitation
Research and Development, vol. 32 No. 3,
October 1995 Pages 280—284.

[3] Margarida Urbano, José Fonseca,

Urbano Nunes, Luís Figueiredo,
"Adaptation of Powered Wheelchairs for
Quadriplegic Patients with Reduced
Strength, "ETFA 2008 - 13th IEEE
Conference On Emerging Technologies &