Head movement controlled electric wheelchair steering system
Engineering Design
January 2025 - March 2025
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Many electric wheelchair users are unable to navigate well due to disabilities such as amputation, paralysis from the neck down or dexterity problems. However, these people still deserve a tool which allows them freedom and independence.
This designed mechanism will:
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My team developed stickmaster, a mechanism which allowed the user to control the joystick of an electric wheelchair using head movements. Although similar products already exist, we designed a mechanism which could be mounted on existing wheelchairs, bringing greater accessibility and convenience
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We realized that electric wheelchairs are predominantly controlled by joysticks, which poses a challenge for groups with amputation, paralysis or dexterity problems. Alternative steering mechanisms exist but are very rare, expensive, unreliable and hard to get. We decided to create a mechanism that mounts on top of the wheelchair handrail that moves the joystick in accordance with data from an orientation sensor (mounted on the head) detecting head movement. I was on the CAD sub team and responsible for designing and manufacturing the physical mechanism moving the joystick.
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I started the prototyping process with a rough sketch of how I envisioned the general shape to look like. This drawing shows the box housing all the parts.
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Next, I designed a motor driven rack and pinion system with the help of my CAD sub team, which would move sliding plates back and forth to control the position of the joystick.
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I created this fully constrained CAD Model on Autodesk Inventor to showcase my design. The video on the right is a demonstration of the CAD Assembly in Autodesk Inventor showcasing some of the features of the design. The rotation of the pinion translates to lateral motion of the plates, which control the position of the joystick. The bars/covers on the sides slide out to allow removal and installation of the plates.
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The final product built using my CAD design and the electrical components created by the computing sub team successfully controls the joystick of an x-box controller. This is further demonstrated by moving a character around in Minecraft.
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https://youtube.com/shorts/DYNhAAvH71k?feature=share
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The final design was showcased in a design expo. I presented the mechanical workings of the product and explained the features demonstrated in the CAD assembly. I also performed a demonstration with our prototype by controlling an x box controller and controlling a character walking through a maze in Minecraft.
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