Steering a Robotic Wheelchair Based on Voice Recognition System Using Convolutional Neural Networks

Many wheelchair people depend on others to control the movement of their wheelchairs, which significantly influences their independence and quality of life. Smart wheelchairs offer a degree of self-dependence and freedom to drive their own vehicles. In this work, we designed and implemented a low-cost software and hardware method to steer a robotic wheelchair. Moreover, from our method, we developed our own Android mobile app based on Flutter software. A convolutional neural network (CNN)-based network-in-network (NIN) structure approach integrated with a voice recognition model was also developed and configured to build the mobile app. The technique was also implemented and configured using an offline Wi-Fi network hotspot between software and hardware components. Five voice commands (yes, no, left, right, and stop) guided and controlled the wheelchair through the Raspberry Pi and DC motor drives. The overall system was evaluated based on a trained and validated English speech corpus by Arabic native speakers for isolated words to assess the performance of the Android OS application. The maneuverability performance of indoor and outdoor navigation was also evaluated in terms of accuracy. The results indicated a degree of accuracy of approximately 87.2% of the accurate prediction of some of the five voice commands. Additionally, in the real-time performance test, the root-mean-square deviation (RMSD) values between the planned and actual nodes for indoor/outdoor maneuvering were 1.721 x 10(-5) and 1.743 x 10(-5), respectively.

Automated summary

Smart wheelchairs provide wheelchair users with self-dependence and improve their quality of life. In this study, a low-cost software and hardware method was designed and implemented to control a robotic wheelchair. An Android mobile app based on Flutter software was developed, along with a convolutional neural network and voice recognition model. The system achieved high accuracy and demonstrated good maneuverability performance for indoor and outdoor navigation.