Wheelchair finds its own way around
Wheelchair finds its own way around
2008-09-26Newsfeed
A robot wheelchair that can find its own way around and be told what to do is being developed by researchers at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in the US.
A robot wheelchair that can find its own way around and be told what to do is being developed by researchers at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in the US.
"It's a system that can learn and adapt to the user," says co-developer Nicholas Roy, assistant professor of aeronautics and astronautics.
It learns about its environment in much the same way as a person would: by being taken around on a guided tour, with important places identified along the way.
For example, as it is pushed around a nursing home, the patient or a carer would say: "this is my room" or "here we are in the foyer" or "nurse's station."
Seth Teller is professor of computer science and engineering and head of the Robotics, Vision, and Sensor Networks group at MIT's Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory.
He says the group is developing a variety of machines of various sizes that can learn `mental maps` in order to help people do what they want to do, or do it for them.
The devices range in scale from a location-aware cell phone all the way up to an industrial forklift that can transport large loads from place to place outdoors, autonomously.
Copyright © The Press Association 2008
