College Professor Working on Creating Autonomous Wheelchairs
Northwestern University Assistant Prof. Brenna Argall is leading a team of scientists and researchers in an effort to create autonomous wheelchairs for people with severe disabilities. The wheelchairs will be customized with different functionalities depending on the severity of a person’s disability.
In order to meet each person’s unique requirements, Argall, who is an assistant professor of Rehabilitation Robotics, and her team are working with modular software and hardware. The modular software will let users decided which autonomous assistance options to pick from and use, while the modular hardware will allow for the addition of sensors depending on a person’s needs.
Making a wheelchair to fit a specific person’s needs can be a challenge, but it is one that Argall has fully embraced.
“Each person is unique in their personal preferences and abilities, and we need to be responsive to this,” said Argall in an interview with Digital Trends.
Argall added, “By making assistive machine easier to control, because they can autonomously control themselves, our goal is to make people with severe motor impairments more able and independent.”
Argall hopes that a version of the wheelchair will be available in five years, possibly sooner.
