Simulation of a Wheelchair Control System Based on Computer Vision Through Head Movements for Quadriplegic People

People with quadriplegia rely on someone else to get around using a manual wheelchair. Using motorized wheelchairs gives them some independence and, simultaneously, the need of methods to control them. In the state-of-the-art, there is a great variety of these minimally invasive methods that use external devices, for example, accelerometers, which could generate discomfort. The present work proposes a non-invasive system based on artificial vision is proposed that does not require placing any device on the user. The proposed system consists of an image acquisition stage, one for face detection using Viola-Jones algorithm and another for tracking using Kanade-Lucas-Tomasi (KLT) algorithm. Additionally, a way to enter or exit the commands mode is proposed so that the user can activate/deactivate the system as required. For this, a specific movement is presented, as long as this movement is not performed, the user can move his head freely without activating the motors in the angle of focus of the camera 20o to 45o, the system correctly interprets 100% of the head moving towards or away. The novel detail is that the system allows entry and exit of the command mode by means of a special movement of the head, if the user enters the commands mode, the following options are available: tilt his head to the left, right, forward or backward.