Design of a Line Following Wheelchair for Visually Impaired Paralyzed Patient

Wheelchair is an integral part of life for movement of disabled people especially if they are also visually impaired. These patients need assistance to move the wheelchair, even if they need to move on from one room to another room in an indoor environment or inside house. A manual wheelchair is not very useful for this category of patient without any caregiver. Therefore, this paper aims the design and implementation of a low-cost Arduino based line following and mobile control prototype of automated wheelchair for assisting the move of these people in an indoor environment. The pathways were so designed that the wheelchair can follow two lines - a white line and a black line. The white line will guide the wheelchair to the drawing room and the black line will guide the wheelchair to the washroom without the support of any caregiver. A Bluetooth based remote control system has been designed for people who are paralyzed but not visually impaired. The same remote control can be used by a caregiver who needs to control the wheelchair remotely. A pulse oximeter and temperature sensor were added for monitoring the health of the user. A GSM module along with a GPS module were used to send SMS of health monitoring data and wheelchair location to the concerned person. An ultrasonic obstacle detection sensor was added to detect and avoid obstacles. Options for both solar and conventional ways of charging the batteries have been kept. Arduino Uno, Arduino Nano, GPS, GSM, Ultrasonic Sensor, Bridge Rectifier, Bluetooth Module, DC to DC Step Down Buck converter, Motor Driver and Solar Panel were used to design the wheelchair prototype. The project is hoped to have impact on the society by providing opportunity to the blind and paralyzed people by helping them move independently inside their house and thereby improve their quality of life.