Videos ROLLAND

Various assistants for the wheelchair ROLLAND are developed to compensate for diminishing physical and cognitive faculties: the safety assistant brakes in time, the driving assistant avoids obstacles and facilitates passing through a door, and a head joystick is a new means to control a wheelchair. ROLLAND is a power wheelchair equipped with odometers to measure the rotation of the drive wheels, a small computer, and two laser scanners. The laser scanners are mounted in the back of the wheelchair and in the front behind the footrests. They measure the distances to the closest obstacles on a height of 12 cm. In case of the videos shown here, ROLLAND is based on the wheelchair Xeno manufactured by the German company Otto Bock.

SafetyAssistant — by admin — last modified 2008-12-02 11:24

The SafetyAssistant brakes in time before collisions can occur. This protection is provided for any possible driving direction of the wheelchair. The video demonstrates braking when driving forward and backward, as well as when turning on the spot. Please note that the maximum speed of the Xeno is 10 km/h, and the SafetyAssistant is still able to brake in time.

DrivingAssistant in BAALL — by admin — last modified 2008-12-02 11:26

The DrivingAssistant actively avoids obstacles and lowers the speed of the wheelchair in the proximity of obstacles. The video was taken in the Bremen Ambient Assisted Living Lab (BAALL) that is still under construction. In the beginning, the DrivingAssistant prevents the wheelchair from colliding with the kitchen wall while driving backwards. Afterwards, it helps the user when driving through the door opening. Finally, it supports the user while he is driving backwards.

DrivingAssistant with Joystick — by admin — last modified 2008-12-02 11:27

In this video the DrivingAssistant maneuvers the wheelchair into a door opening of less than 90 cm. The user is only roughly giving the driving direction.

DrivingAssistant with Head Joystick — by admin — last modified 2008-12-02 11:32

This video demonstrates that the DrivingAssistant can provide the same assistance when the wheelchair is controlled with the head joystick as when it is controlled through the joystick.

BCM on ROLLAND in BAALL — by admin — last modified 2008-12-02 16:35

In this video, the biometric cognitive module (BCM) is used to detect the current affective tension. For this, small wearable sensors are attached to the user which measure the current physiological state and the corresponding affective state is calculated. As cognitive capabilities depend on the emotional state and different assistance needs result at the same time, the navigation mode of the wheelchair is adapted to these changing needs.

Head Joystick in BAALL — by admin — last modified 2009-02-02 10:59

The head joystick allows the user to control the wheelchair by tilting and rolling the head instead of using a joystick. It is a small device worn at the back of the head. The underlying SafetyAssistant prevents collisions.

Autonomous Navigation Assistant in BAALL — by admin — last modified 2009-02-02 11:04

The video shows the Autonomous Navigation Assistant and its integration in the Bremen Ambient Assisted Living Lab (BAALL). First, the user asks the wheelchair “Please take me to the books”. The wheelchair is autonomously driving there. After the user has taken a cook book out of the shelf, he asks the wheelchair to take him to the kitchen. While driving there, the electric doors open automatically and the kitchen worktop moves to an appropriate height, so that the wheelchair fits underneath it. Finally the user moves down a kitchen cupboard by pressing of button in the kitchen, opens the cupboard, and takes out a plate. Afterwards, he decides to move the cupboard back up using a speech command.