Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Develops Semi-Virtual Reality Powered Wheelchair Simulator

Dr. Rick Meyer together with graduate student Yuliia Sergeeva and a Senior Design Capstone Project group have recently finished initial development of a semi-virtual reality powered wheelchair  (SVRPWC) simulator. The simulator consists of an electrically powered wheelchair that sits atop a stationary drive frame, computer to generate a virtual operating environment, and interface between the wheelchair and computer that communicates joystick commands between them. Specifically, the wheelchair joystick electronics are modified to send their commands to the interface as well as receive new commands. The stationary drive frame is a portable aluminum frame with heavy rollers that the wheelchair drive wheels ride on to give the illusion of actual movement while viewing the virtual reality environment.  Lastly, the computer uses a game engine to generate the virtual reality environment that is projected to the operator via virtual reality goggles. The simulator is semi-virtual reality because the vision sense is subject to virtual reality but the other senses of movement, hearing, touch, etc. are generated by the rotation of the wheelchair wheels on the stationary drive frame. The simulator is being used for the development of operator assistance technologies, such as collision avoidance and navigation assistance, in a safe environment. Further, operators with tremor from Parkinson’s disease are of special interest with tremor filtering identification and filtering already implemented. The use of a virtual environment means that new assistive ideas can be investigated rapidly; there is no need to expend the time or expense to construct a physical device. The work was made possible by a Faculty Research and Creative Activities Award from WMU’s Office of Vice President for Research.