MIT based researchers are developing an intelligent robot wheelchair that can learn the locations a user wants to go to and automatically take the user there with a simple verbal command. For example you could say “Bathroom” or “Family Room” and the wheelchair would bring you there without needing to be pushed by a either a second person or the wheelchairs user.

Currently, the prototype relies on a WiFi system to make its maps and then navigate, which requires a retrofit for the facility is question. The system would match places with names by being given a 1 time guided tour of the facility in which the user states the name of each room as they enter it. This allows for the customization of the system to user as it sets to their voice and name for the room.

Outdoors, the system would use a combination of GPS and laser range finders to help the chair to navigate from place to place. As the research progresses a collision-avoidance system may be added to the chair in order to avoid accidents.

The project is a collaboration between MIT’s AgeLab, The Robotics, Vision, and Sensor Networks (RVSN) group and the Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL). It is being funded by both the Nokia and the Microsoft corporations.