This self-docking wheelchair is a very nice marriage of technology with necessity. As can be seen from the video below, getting the wheelchair onto its platform from where you are sitting is quite a challenge, and making the process automatic is a great application of technology. I am not sure if the guidance is based on video or laser ranging, but it looks very cool. The engineering "trick" is to see the essence of the problem (docking) without being distracted by the much larger problem (autonomous driving). This is the way that robotics becomes more and more acceptable to society.
Posted by elkaim at April 28, 2008 6:29 PMUsing the new system, the user opens the door of their van and presses a button to lower the front seat so they can climb in. A remote control is then used to drive the chair round to the back of the van.
From here on, a computer inside the vehicle takes over. Using radio signals and laser guidance, it positions the chair onto the forks of a lift that hauls the wheelchair on board, and closes the door.
The process is reversed once the driver reaches their destination.
[...]
he researchers had originally planned to let users dock the empty wheelchair onto the forklift themselves, using the remote control and a camera mounted on the van. But it proved too difficult to position the chair accurately on the lift.
"The real challenge is to dock with 100% reliability. That is something you can't do with remote control," says John Spletzer, a roboticist at Lehigh who helped develop the system.
Instead they developed an on-board computer that uses a LIDAR (light detecting and ranging) system to position the chair. It bounces laser light off two reflectors on the armrests of the chair to track its position and align it with the forklift.