NSF Convergence Accelerator: Track H: Mobility Independence through Accelerated Wheelchair Intelligence

最普遍的辅助机器是电动轮椅。它赋予了许多因疾病或受伤而导致运动障碍的人独立行动的能力。然而，对数百万人来说，独立操作电动轮椅仍然负担过重，甚至完全无法接近。对于行动能力有限的人来说，目前的控制界面很难有效地从他们的身体捕捉命令，而且缺乏确保安全有效的轮椅驾驶的驾驶员辅助选择。其结果是剥夺了残疾人及其照顾者在社区和劳动力中的独立性和参与性。该项目建议通过从根本上改变从人体获取控制输入并将其传输到机器的方式，以及通过利用实用的机器智能来提高安全性和促进轮椅的独立操作，来加快电动轮椅的可及性和实用性。第一阶段的加速将开发一种辅助轮椅原型，极大地扩大有严重运动障碍的人获得独立行动的机会-这对生活质量和参与劳动力以及残疾人和他们的照顾者都是重要的。这一融合加速器的合作伙伴包括提供实际使用和指导原型设计的临床专业知识的利益相关者，以及实现和稍后翻译该设计的工程师。合作伙伴包括非营利组织(Gleason团队、雪莉·瑞安能力实验室)、学术界(西北大学)和产业界(LUCI、接力机器人、功能工程)。扩大的参与计划吸引了拥有ALS的轮椅最终用户。2020年，第一个商业化的、在FDA注册的电动轮椅驾驶员辅助系统进入市场(LUI)。然而，在他们(仅限减法)的帮助与自主机器人公司在动态人类环境中实现的自动化之间存在差距。从主动绕过障碍物到半自动导航，主动协助的潜在影响是巨大的。辅助轮椅市场已经为整合这些能力做好了准备，尤其是患有退行性疾病的人，需要毫不拖延地大幅扩大援助范围。第一阶段的工作将完成以下研究推力，每一项都将产生一个硬件和软件可交付成果。·推力1：通过新的灵活控制界面的贡献，弥合能够操作操纵杆的司机和不能操作轮椅控制的司机之间在无障碍轮椅控制方面的差距。·推力2：通过为轮椅控制系统和输入设备之间的双边通信提供开源和数字API的贡献，使未来轮椅输入机制的发展现代化和民主化。·推力3：通过扩展轮椅辅助功能，提高轮椅智能的安全性和独立性，将商业级机器人导航功能纳入唯一商业可用的、FDA注册的电动轮椅驾驶员辅助系统。到第一阶段结束时，将建造两个集成了所有交付成果的原型，包括：(1)建立在Luci电动轮椅上的机器人导航和安全系统，(2)与人类驾驶员共享控制，后者通过(3)通过(4)开放源代码驱动接口与轮椅控制系统通信的新型灵活接口。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The most ubiquitous assistive machine is the power wheelchair. It endows independent mobility to many with motor impairments that result from disease or injury. Yet, there are millions for whom the independent operation of power wheelchairs remains overly burdensome, or even entirely inaccessible. For people with limited movement capabilities, current control interfaces struggle to effectively capture commands from their bodies, and there is a lack of driver assistance options that ensure safe and effective wheelchair driving. The result is a deprivation—for persons with disabilities, and their caregivers—of independence and engagement within the community and workforce. This project proposes to accelerate the accessibility and utility of power wheelchairs by radically changing how control inputs are captured from the human body and transferred to the machine, and by leveraging practical machine intelligence to enhance safety and facilitate independent wheelchair operation. The Phase 1 acceleration will develop an assistive wheelchair prototype, that greatly expands access to independent mobility by those with severe motor impairments—which is significant for both quality of life and participation in the workforce, and by both persons with disabilities and their caregivers. The partners on this convergence accelerator include stakeholders to provide hands-on use and clinical expertise that guides the prototype design, and engineers to realize and later translate that design. The partnership spans non-profits (Team Gleason, Shirley Ryan AbilityLab), academia (Northwestern University), and industry (LUCI, Relay Robotics, Function Engineering). The broadening participation plan engages wheelchair end-users who have ALS.The year 2020 saw the first commercially-available, FDA-registered driver assistance system for power wheelchairs enter the market (LUCI). There exists a gap, however, between their (subtractive-only) assistance and the automation achieved by autonomous robot companies within dynamic human environments. From active steering around obstacles to semi-autonomous navigation, the potential impact for active assistance is tremendous. The assistive wheelchair market is ready for the integration of such capabilities, and persons with degenerative diseases in particular need this greatly expanded scope of assistance without delay. The Phase 1 work will accomplish the following research thrusts, each of which will produce a hardware and software deliverable. • Thrust 1: Bridging the gap in accessible wheelchair control between drivers who can operate a joystick and those who cannot, through the contribution of a novel flexible control interface that conforms to the user and offers fully expressive wheelchair control.• Thrust 2: Modernizing and democratizing the development of future wheelchair input mechanisms, through the contribution of an open-source and digital API for bilateral communication between wheelchair control systems and input devices.• Thrust 3: Advancing safety and independence with wheelchair intelligence, through expanded wheelchair assistance that incorporates commercial-grade robot navigation capabilities into the only commercially-available, FDA-registered driver assistance system for power wheelchairs.By the end of Phase 1, two prototypes that integrate all deliverables will have been built, that consist of: (1) a robotic navigation and safety system, built atop a LUCI power wheelchair, that (2) shares control with the human driver, who provides control commands through (3) the novel flexible interface that communicates with the wheelchair control system via (4) the open-source drive interface.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.