Publication

Abstract : There are a large number of people in the world with debilitatingphysical disabilities, who experience significant difficulties inperforming even very basic tasks such as locomotion, speaking,writing etc. The worst affected class of physically challenged arethose who have become paralyzed over a significant percentageof their bodies, i.e. quadriplegics. These people find it extremelydifficult to perform any task that requires even small amounts offorce. Therefore, the best option is a gesture-based interactionwith their environment, in particular their wheelchairs. Ourproposed system uses a small camera mounted very close to thequadriplegic’s hand, which tracks the small movements of theirfingers to understand where they wish to travel to. Therecognition system is then interfaced to the wheelchair controlsystem in order move it to the desired location. The wheelchaircontrol system we are developing has the following salientfeatures - effortless to use, customizable, economical, highlyconvenient and non-intrusive. The main goal that we aim bydoing this project is to bring out a real working model of thesystem. The physically challenged can themselves sit on thewheelchair and test the product. This will definitely make a hugeimpact on the society because of its salient features mentioned above.