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19 Khushi Arora, Parnika Gupta, Niharika Pathak

International Journal of Electronics, Electrical and Computational System

IJEECS

ISSN 2348-117X

Volume 4, Issue 11

November 2015

Rapido Wheelchair

Khushi Arora, Parnika Gupta, Niharika Pathak

Department of Electronics and Communication

Manav Rachna University, Faridabad

Abstract—This paper introduces RAPIDO, a head

controlled wheelchair which helps a physically

challenged person in transportation. The head movements

are controlled by sensors in the headset. A joystick is

attached for a person who cannot operate it with head.

Ultrasonic sensors are used to detect the obstacles.

Arduino is being used as the programmer. Rapido also

has a mobile application which helps in connectivity of

the attendee and the disabled person. This wheelchair is

beneficial for the disabled as well as for the attendee as

being proved with facts in the paper below. The aim

behind this rapido wheelchair is to help a disabled person

in living life like an abled person do.

Keywords—Arduino, Motors,Mobile application,

Sensors, Accelerometer

I. INTRODUCTION

Transportation is a very important aspect of human

life. But in case of disable person, transportation is

an issue. It has been seen that about 560,000 people

with disabilities never leave home because of

transportation difficulties. They have to depend on

others to help them to move and for other necessities

due to which they always need to have someone who

can help. Since they have to be dependent, so from

the beginning they start lacking confidence and

counts there disability as a priority of life. Some

even curse themselves for birth. The first record of

wheeled seats used for the transportation of disabled

people in China. In 1887, wheelchairs were

introduced to Atlantic City, for invalid tourists so

that they can take on rent and enjoy the boardwalk.

Then in 1933, Harry Jennings and his disabled friend

Herbert Everest came up with the first lightweight,

steel, collapsible wheel chair. After this invention,

wheelchair had a phase where people came up with

different types of wheelchair like manually

propelled, electric power, sports variants, all terrain

variants etc. So the main objective is to design a

head geared wheelchair that reduces the labor of

disabled person, helping him to live independently

and to make him feel that he is not a burden to

others. We aimed to design a wheelchair fitted with

ultrasonic sensors, acceleration sensors, speed

controllers, joystick controls and Bluetooth headset

which is connected to the mobile application, makes

the person independent and helps to live freely. Such

a support helps in improving life span of disabled

person and gives them a hope to live freely and

happily.

II. SYSTEM OVERVIEW

As told earlier, wheel chair consists of ultrasonic

sensors, acceleration sensors, speed controllers,

joystick control and a Bluetooth headset connected

with the mobile application.

The ultrasonic sensors used detect the position of

the obstacles by measuring the length of time of

transmission and reception and help the driver to

control the wheelchair by giving a pre alarm about

the obstacle. The thresholds of the wheelchair are

adjustable. The acceleration of the wheelchair is

controlled by head movement and joystick. The head

movements are controlled by the acceleration

sensors in the Bluetooth headset. The acceleration

sensors have an analog output with two axis and the

values of the two axis of the acceleration sensors are

calibrated in terms of “g” i.e. the g-force. The hand

functions in a disable person maybe limited or may

not be available even so the head control is a good

solution for the movements of the wheelchair. The

head movements are translated by the ultrasonic

sensors into proportional control of wheelchair. The

wheelchair enables the driver to have full command

over the direction of the wheelchair and also gives

an alarm about the obstacles to avoid accidents. Such

a system helps driver to move in which ever

environment he wants, to safely. The acceleration of

wheelchair is not only controlled by head but it can

also be controlled using a joystick. The similar

movements of forward, backward, left and right can

also be done by using joystick controller which is set

on the wheelchair. A person with a disability of head

can operate the wheelchair using joystick. A speed

controller is attached near the joystick which

controls the speed of the wheelchair. It is important

for the driver to maintain the speed of the wheelchair



IJEECS

ISSN 2348-117X

Volume 4, Issue 11

November 2015

to avoid accidents on roads, ramps, doorways etc.

The driver also needs to maintain the balance of the

wheelchair while driving to avoid any kind of harm.

In case, the driver drives the wheelchair using head

the speed can be controlled using the controller.

Moreover in case of turns controlled speed is

necessary as to maintain the balance of the

wheelchair. The castor wheels are attached at the

front of the wheel chair helps in proper balancing of

the wheelchair and also helps in safe turns of the

chair. In case of right turn, the right castor stop

working and the left castor makes the turn easier,

safer and balanced and vice versa. The wheelchair is

connected to a mobile application that is being made

for the attendee and the disabled person. The

application is setup on the cell phone of the disabled

person. The attendee need to have the same mobile

application that disabled has on the cell phone. Both

will be in contact with each other through this

mobile application. The attendee can trace the

location of the disabled whenever he wants to with

the help of the mobile application. The information

about the obstacles detected by the ultrasonic sensors

is given to the attendee through this application.

Moreover the application has an emergency call

button which gives attendee a call whenever the

disabled person is in an urgent need. The application

also has a button to record a message said by the

driver and then the message gets converted into text

and goes to the attendee’s mobile application. The

communication between the disabled and attendee

can be done through mobile application.

III. COMPONENTS OF BLOCK DIAGRAM

Figure 1: Components

A. ACCELEROMETER (ADXL345)

ADXL345 is a small, low, ultralow power, 3 axis

accelerometer with high resolution measurement at

up to 16g. ADXL345 is well suited for mobile

device application. It measures the static acceleration

of gravity in tilt sensing applications as well as

dynamic acceleration resulting from motion or

shock. Several special sensing functions are also

being provided by the accelerometer. The

accelerometer used plays a very important role in

movement of wheelchair. It is attached with the

Bluetooth headset so that the head movements can

easily be measured. It helps in proper head tilts that

were required for moving the wheel chair forward,

backward, right and left. These are mostly used

where sensitive data is required and that too at low

power consumption. The output signals are analog

voltages that are proportional to acceleration. The

accelerometer can measure the static acceleration of

gravity in tilt sensing application as well as dynamic

acceleration resulting from motion or vibration.

Figure 2: Accelerometer

B. ARDUINO LEONARDO

The Arduino Leonardo is a micro controller board

based on the ATmega32u4. It has 20 digital

input/output pins (of which 7 can be used as PWM

outputs and 12 as analog inputs), a 16 MHz crystal

oscillator, a micro USB connection, a power jack, an

ICSP header, and a reset button. It contains

everything needed to support the micro controller;

simply connect it to a computer with a USB cable or

power it with a AC-to-DC adapter or battery to get

started. The Leonardo differs from all preceding

boards in that the ATmega32u4 has built-in USB

communication, eliminating the need for a secondary

processor. This allows the Leonardo to appear to a

connected computer as a mouse and keyboard, in

addition to a virtual (CDC) serial / COM port.



IJEECS

ISSN 2348-117X

Volume 4, Issue 11

November 2015

Figure 3: Arduino

C. POWER SUPPLY

The power supply is used to supply electric load

with the electric energy. The converts one form of

electric energy into another. The 24volt power

supply used gives 5v regulated power supply to the

micro controller. The motor driver too gets motor

voltages from the power supply. Power supply

delivers dc voltage to the item requiring power. The

power supply provides all the components with their

required voltages and currents so that the outcome of

the product is appropriate as required

Figure 4: Power supply

D. BLUETOOTH HEADSET

The Bluetooth headset have an accelerometer

attached to it which detecting the tilt of head for

movements like forward, backward, right and left.

The Bluetooth in the headset helps in connecting

wheel chair with the mobile application. And

indirectly it also helps attendee in getting the updates

of the chair through the application.

Figure 5: Bluetooth Headset

IV. MOBILE APPLICATION

The wheel chair is connected to a mobile application

which is being made for the driver as well as for the

attendee. The purpose of the wheel chair is to

develop a mode of communication between the

driver who is on the wheel chair and the attendee. It

acts as a path between the driver and attendee.

Because of the application with all required features

the attendee needs not to be present always for the

driver. Presence of an attendee always near a

disabled person irritates the person and makes him

feel as a burden and a responsibility for the world.

He also wants to be free in the world and wants to

live on his conditions. Moreover for an attendee also

it is not possible to be with a person whole day. So

an mobile application satisfies both driver’s as well

as attendee’s needs. For a driver it helps a disabled

person to move around the world like others do. He

can go wherever he wants to alone. This makes him

independent and he no more feel a burden of his on

others. Whereas for an attendee, it is his duty to be

with the disabled person but sometimes a situation

can come that he will not be with the person. In such

cases, the application proves to be beneficial for the

attendee. He can trace the driver driving the wheel

chair through this application. He can help him in

emergency cases also. The application has all the

features that a driver and an attendee would need to

overcome their problems. This is an app to app

communication channel which has the capability to

solve the problems of the people.

App Features for driver:

1. A column for information about the attendee.

2. Voice control option

3. Emergency call

App Features for attendee:

1. Location of driver

2.Hospital availability

3. Ultrasonic sensor data

4. Voice converted commands

1. ATTENDEE INFORMATION: The column in

app is made to fill the details of the attendee under

whose observation the disabled person is so that app

to app communication between the driver and

attendee can be done easily. The details require the

phone number of the attendee which helps in

connecting the driver’s app with attendee’s.

2. VOICE CONTROL: The wheel chair has a voice

recognition system. In this system the driver can

record his voice and send it to attendee in form of a



IJEECS

ISSN 2348-117X

Volume 4, Issue 11

November 2015

textual message. The feature of a voice control is

meant for that purpose only as when the driver feels

like recording the voice he has to press the icon and

has to keep it pressed till he is not completed. When

he releases the icon, the voice information goes to

the app on attendee’s phone.

3. EMERGENCY CALL: The feature of

emergency call in mobile app helps the driver to

make a call to the attendee in panic situations. The

calling will be done from driver’s app to the

attendee’s app.

4. LOCATION OF DRIVER: The attendee can

trace the location of wheelchair whenever he wants

to. Even the app is capable of providing 24 hours

tracking of the wheel chair so that the attendee is

aware of the location of the driver.

5. ULTRASONIC SENSOR DATA: The ultrasonic

sensors on the wheel chair helps in detecting the

obstacles at a certain range coming in front of the

wheel chair. The app gives the data detected by these

sensors so that in case the wheel chair doesn’t stops

by detecting the obstacle then the attendee can reach

and help the driver from having an accident.

6. VOICE CONVERTED COMMANDS: Wheel

chair has a feature of voice to text which converts

the voice message into textual message and sends the

message to the attendee on the app. The driver has

the feature of voice control where the driver records

the voice note and then sends it to the attendee

through the app. Attendee can read the converted

note on the command option present on the

attendee’s app.

7. HOSPITAL AVALIABILTY: The feature of

hospital availability in the app is for the attendee so

that in case of urgent emergency he can contact the

hospital and calls the doctor at the location instead of

searching for help in panic situations. He can

immediately call for help from the hospital at

required location where the driver needs.

Figure 6: Mobile Application

IV. CONCLUSION

The intended objectives were successfully achieved

in the Prototype model developed. The developed

product is easy to use, economical and does not

require special training. Though the project

showcases the proof of concept, there are a few

aspects that can be included to make the model more

advanced to help. The head control operation for

movement can be replaced by advanced mind

control operations for speed control, movements etc.

More advanced sensors can also be used instead of

ultrasonic sensors. The communication is not very

secure. Another ZigBee module operating at the

Same frequency can easily intercept the transmitted

data. Further, a more sophisticated microcontroller

can be used.

V. REFERENCES Mahaboob Ali Shaik M.Prathyusha, K. S. Roy, “Voice

and touch screen based direction and speed control of

wheel chair for physically challenged using Arduino,” .

Takeshi Saitoh Masato Nishimori and Ryosuke Konishi,

“Voice controlled intelligent wheelchair,” SICE Annual

Conference, Kagawa University, Japan, 2007

http://iraj.in/up_proc/pdf

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V4I4P346.pdf

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Jesi Is Urei A, Juan C. Garcia, Enrique Santiso, Pedro

Revenga And J. Jesi Is Garcia (1995) Wheelchair for

Physically Disabled People with Voice, Ultrasonic and

Infrared Sensor Control Autonomous Robots, 2, pp.

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Bourhis G, Moumen K, Pino P, Rohmer S, Pruski A.

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(2010),Automation of wheel chair using ultrasonic and

body kinematics,National Conference on Computational

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http://iraj.in/up_proc/pdf



IJEECS

ISSN 2348-117X

Volume 4, Issue 11

November 2015

Manuel Mazo, Francisco J. Rodriguez, Josi L, L Zaro,

Jesi Is Urei A, Juan C. Garcia, Enrique Santiso, Pedro

Revenga And J. Jesi Is Garcia (1995) Wheelchair for

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203-224.

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Control Using ZIGBEE Protocol”, International Journal

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