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A Multi-Layer Navigation System for Smart Wheelchairs with a Limited Input Interface
arXiv:2610.38569v1 Announce Type: new Abstract: Smart wheelchairs are robotic devices that gather information from the surroundings and allow people to safely drive through various environments. They usually rely on the interpretation of high-level user's intentions, typically decoded through human-robot interface (HRI) or brain-machine interface (BMI). However, navigating in an unknown environment and accurately understanding user commands remain significant challenges. Misinterpretation of commands or the environment can lead to user frustration, distrust of the system, or even unsafe situations. In this paper, we present a novel Multi-Layer Navigation System (MLNS) for a smart wheelchair that enables navigation in unknown environments while interpreting and safely contextualizing user's intentions even in the case of limited and faulty commands. The stack relies on a Virtual Sensors-Driven Potential Fields (ViSPF) method for obstacle detection that accounts for the wheelchair's actual size, a Model Predictive Control (MPC) module for trajectory generation, and an open-vocabulary computer vision algorithm for target identification. Finally, a system based on Priority Queue (PQ) was implemented for target selection. We validated our system on a real smart wheelchair with experiments involving 10 participants without disabilities, including scenarios with faulty input interfaces. The results demonstrate the robustness and effectiveness of our system in real-world environments, proving its potential for practical applications in assistive technologies.
Abstract:Smart wheelchairs are robotic devices that gather information from the surroundings and allow people to safely drive through various environments. They usually rely on the interpretation of high-level user's intentions, typically decoded through human-robot interface (HRI) or brain-machine interface (BMI). However, navigating in an unknown environment and accurately understanding user commands remain significant challenges. Misinterpretation of commands or the environment can lead to user frustration, distrust of the system, or even unsafe situations. In this paper, we present a novel Multi-Layer Navigation System (MLNS) for a smart wheelchair that enables navigation in unknown environments while interpreting and safely contextualizing user's intentions even in the case of limited and faulty commands. The stack relies on a Virtual Sensors-Driven Potential Fields (ViSPF) method for obstacle detection that accounts for the wheelchair's actual size, a Model Predictive Control (MPC) module for trajectory generation, and an open-vocabulary computer vision algorithm for target identification. Finally, a system based on Priority Queue (PQ) was implemented for target selection. We validated our system on a real smart wheelchair with experiments involving 10 participants without disabilities, including scenarios with faulty input interfaces. The results demonstrate the robustness and effectiveness of our system in real-world environments, proving its potential for practical applications in assistive technologies.
8 pages, 6 figures, 3 tables. Presented at IROS 2026 (IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems); to appear in the conference proceedings
Robotics (cs.RO)
arXiv:2610.38569 [cs.RO]
(or arXiv:2610.38569v1 [cs.RO] for this version)
Full text under the publisher's open licence · 240 words