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With the number of people with disabilities (PWD) increasing worldwide each year, the demand for mobility support to enable independent living and social integration is also growing. Wheelchairs commonly support the mobility of PWD in both…
In this paper, we propose a modular navigation system that can be mounted on a regular powered wheelchair to assist disabled children and the elderly with autonomous mobility and shared-control features. The lack of independent mobility…
Smart electric wheelchairs can improve user experience by supporting the driver with shared control. State-of-the-art work showed the potential of shared control in improving safety in navigation for non-holonomic robots. However, for…
Retention of residual skills for persons who partially lose their cognitive or physical ability is of utmost importance. Research is focused on developing systems that provide need-based assistance for retention of such residual skills.…
To date, self-driving experimental wheelchair technologies have been either inexpensive or robust, but not both. Yet, in order to achieve real-world acceptance, both qualities are fundamentally essential. We present a unique approach to…
As the number of Persons with Disabilities (PWD), particularly those with one or more physical impairments, increases, there is an increasing demand for assistive robotic technologies that can support independent mobility in the built…
Safe road-crossing by self-driving vehicles is a crucial problem to address in smart-cities. In this paper, we introduce a multi-sensor fusion approach to support road-crossing decisions in a system composed by an autonomous wheelchair and…
While powered wheelchairs reduce physical fatigue as opposed to manual wheelchairs for individuals with mobility impairment, they demand high cognitive workload due to information processing, decision making and motor coordination. Current…
Long-horizon navigation in complex urban environments relies heavily on continuous human operation, which leads to fatigue, reduced efficiency, and safety concerns. Shared autonomy, where a Vision-Language AI agent and a human operator…
Robotic wheelchairs (RWs) offer significant potential to enhance autonomy and participation for people with mobility impairments, yet many systems have failed to achieve sustained real-world adoption. This narrative literature review…
A smart wheelchair (SW) is a power wheelchair (PW) to which computers, sensors, and assistive technology are attached. In the past decade, there has been little effort to provide a systematic review of SW research. This paper aims to…
Mobile telepresence robots (MTRs) have become increasingly popular in the expanding world of remote work, providing new avenues for people to actively participate in activities at a distance. However, humans operating MTRs often have…
Under shared autonomy, wheelchair users expect vehicles to provide safe and comfortable rides while following users high-level navigation plans. To find such a path, vehicles negotiate with different terrains and assess their traversal…
This paper presents the framework for a novel Unified Socially-Aware Navigation (USAN) architecture and explains its need in Socially Assistive Robotics (SAR) applications. Our approach emphasizes interpersonal distance and how spatial…
Autonomous navigation robots can increase the independence of blind people but often limit user control, following what is called in Japanese an "omakase" approach where decisions are left to the robot. This research investigates ways to…
Learning to operate a vehicle is generally accomplished by forming a new cognitive map between the body motions and extrapersonal space. Here, we consider the challenge of remapping movement-to-space representations in survivors of spinal…
Assistive electric-powered wheelchairs (EPWs) have become essential mobility aids for people with disabilities such as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), post-stroke hemiplegia, and dementia-related mobility impairment. This work presents…
In the rapidly evolving landscape of autonomous mobile robots, the emphasis on seamless human-robot interactions has shifted towards autonomous decision-making. This paper delves into the intricate challenges associated with robotic…
A robot guide dog has compelling advantages over animal guide dogs for its cost-effectiveness, potential for mass production, and low maintenance burden. However, despite the long history of guide dog robot research, previous studies were…
This paper addresses the problem of safe and efficient navigation in remotely controlled robots operating in hazardous and unstructured environments; or conducting other remote robotic tasks. A shared control method is presented which…