An elastic path controller for a collaborative wheelchair assistant

Abstract

In this paper, we propose a new type of Elastic Path Controller (EPC), which is used to control and manipulate the Collaborative Wheelchair Assistant (CWA). The EPC is built on the basis of Brent's path planner and the control force is generated by balance between the internal restoring force and external normal force. Simulation results show that the new EPC can not only follow an arbitrary curve as a guideway but also deviate from the guideway with a normal force to avoid obstacles. This EPC can also work in the singularity area, which was not solved ever before. © ACM 2007.