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PATIENT MONITORING SMART WHEELCHAIR

Conference Paper · September 2015

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Manpreet Singh Minhas

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 PATIENT MONITORING SMART WHEELCHAIR
1
MANPREET SINGH MINHAS, 2JEEVANCHAVAN, 3UJWAL SINGH
1,2,3
Department of Electronics and Telecommunications Engineering, Fr. Conceicao Rodrigues Institute of Technology, Vashi
Email: msminhas93@gmail.com, jchavan321@gmail.com, singhujwal04@gmail.com

Abstract—The implemented patient-monitoring smart-wheelchair system is an ambulatory aid for specially-abled people
along with continuous monitoring of the user’s vital body parameters. In order to take into account different disabilities, four
interfaces have been developed for wheelchair control namely eyeball control, gesture control, joystick control and voice
control. A camera is used to capture the image of the eyeball. LabVIEW is used to take necessary decision depending upon the
position of the eyeball. Remaining three modes also provide control over the wheelchair movement. Ultrasonic sensors are
employed for implementing anti-collision mechanism. In the wheelchair body temperature and heart rate monitoring provision
is made. This system will alert proper medical authorities and the wheelchair user’s selected individuals if any parameter is
out of safe range. The final project is an assistive technology with a difference which would make the life of its user easy and
more stress free.

Index Terms—msp430, patient monitoring, python, smart wheelchair.

I. INTRODUCTION System consists of following sub-blocks.

A. Control Unit
There are specially-abled people throughout India. A Control unit consists of msp430 microcontroller,
major chunk of this population is physically disabled. python and LabVIEW software. All the decisions and
Independent mobility is critical to individuals of any data manipulation is done by control unit.
age. Children without safe and independent B. Wheelchair Power Motors
self-ambulation are denied a critical learning DC motors are used for wheelchair movement.
opportunity, which places them at a developmental Since actual user will be sitting on the wheelchair,
disadvantage relative to their self-ambulating peers high torque motors that will be able to bear the load of
[1]. While smart wheelchairs are available in the person sitting on wheelchair are required.
market their costs are very high. The implemented C. Motor Driver Interface
wheelchair is an effort to make such modern assistive The controller will not be able to drive those heavy
technology available at an affordable price. There are motors. To drive those motors, a driver that will
various types of disabilities like paralysis, paraplegia supply the necessary current for driving the same is
and muscular dystrophy. Depending upon the type of required.
disability four modes has been provided and these are D. Patient Monitoring Sensors
joystick mode, gesture control, eyeball control and Temperature sensor LM35 and TCRT1000 module
voice control mode. Provision for monitoring the body are used to monitor the body temperature and
temperature and heart rate has been made. Ultrasonic heartbeat of the wheelchair user.
sensors have been mounted to provide obstacle E. Wheelchair Control Interface
detection which will ensure safety of the wheelchair The implemented wheelchair has four different
user. GSM module has been added which will send an modes of control. These are eyeball control, audio
alert message to selected individuals whenever the control, gesture control and joystick control.
body parameters of the individual are above certain F. Communication Sub-System
specified threshold or the user presses the panic button This consists of the GSM module for sending alert
so that they can take necessary actions. messages to the appropriate authorities. SIM 900
module is used as for this purpose. It has serial
II. SYSTEM OVERVIEW interface for sending AT commands.
The block diagram of the implemented system is
shown in Fig. 1. III. HARDWARE IMPLEMENTATION

G. MSP430 Microcontroller Series

The Texas Instruments MSP430 family of
ultra-low-power microcontrollers consists of several
devices featuring different sets of peripherals targeted
for various applications. The architecture, combined
with five low-power modes, is optimized to achieve
extended battery life in portable measurement
Fig. 1 Block Diagram

Proceedings of National Conf. on Recent Innovations in Science Engineering & Technology, 16th Aug 2015, Pune, India, ISBN: 978-93-85465-81-9
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 Patient Monitoring Smart Wheelchair

applications. The device features a powerful 16-bit

RISC CPU, 16-bit registers, and constant generators
that contribute to maximum code efficiency. The
digitally controlled oscillator (DCO) allows wake-up
from low-power modes to active mode in less than 1
µs.

H. DC Motor
The motors used are DC motors. The motors chosen
are such that after using spur gear it is able to provide
enough torque to move the wheelchair on load Fig. 3 Motor Driver Module
condition.Fig. 1 shows the DC motor used and Table I J. Spur Gear
shows the motor specifications. Spur gears have been used to decrease the speed and
increase the torque to achieve the desired torque
Table I: Motor Specifications
value.Fig. 4 shows the spur gear assembly used. The
Torque 17 Nm gear ratio was calculated so that it can move the
wheelchair at desired load.
Voltage Rating 12 V

Power Rating 17 Watt

No Load RPM 60

On Load RPM 45

No Load Current 2.5 A

On Load Current 3.5 A

Fig. 4 Spur Gear

K. Heart Rate Monitor

In this the concept of change in amount of red light
absorbed by blood depending on the oxygenation of
blood is used. A photodiode is used to measure the
changes in light intensity level and filters are used to
remove the noise content. The output of the filters is
heartbeat waveform.

L. Body Temperature Measurement

The LM35 series are precision integrated-circuit
Calibrated directly in ° Celsius (Centigrade)
temperature sensors, with an output voltage linearly
proportional to the Centigrade temperature. Thus the
LM35 has an advantage over linear temperature
sensors calibrated in ° Kelvin, as the user is not
Fig. 2 DC Motor required to subtract a large constant voltage from the
output to obtain convenient Centigrade scaling. This
I. Motor Driver Module is used to measure the body temperature and the
This is the driver that is used to control the DC calculated temperature is displayed on LCD.Fig. 5
motors. Microcontroller output is used to control the shows the body temperature display assembly.
motors and in turn the wheelchair via this module.Fig.
3 shows the driver used.

Proceedings of National Conf. on Recent Innovations in Science Engineering & Technology, 16th Aug 2015, Pune, India, ISBN: 978-93-85465-81-9
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 Patient Monitoring Smart Wheelchair

Fig. 7 Eyeball Control Virtual Instrument

O. Audio Control
Fig. 5 Body Temperature Display
User’s voice commands are used to guide
M. Implemented Wheelchair wheelchair. Command spoken by user is processed
Fig. 6 shows the implemented wheelchair. In this using python. Recognized command is used to control
model the gears as well as the motors and the battery wheelchair. Commands used are forward, backward,
and control box has been fitted. The user can use the left, right and stop.Fig. 8 shows the graphical user
controls provided for controlling the wheelchair. The interface (GUI) created for the voice control mode. It
wheelchair is foldable and thus can be transported will give a visual indication to the user which
conveniently. command has been detected.

Fig. 8 Audio Control GUI

P. Joystick Control
This mode is provided for people who are paralyzed
below waist but are able to use their hands properly.
Normal joystick operation is used to direct the
wheelchair.
Q. Gesture Control
For those people who are paralyzed below neck and
are able to use their neck properly this mode is
incorporated. In this mode a capacitive accelerometer
Fig. 6 Implemented Wheelchair is used to detect the head gestures and ADC is used to
convert the analog values to digital values.
IV. WHEELCHAIR CONTROL MODES Microcontroller takes the necessary action.

N. Eyeball Control V. SOFTWARE IMPLEMENTATION

User’s eye ball movements are used to guide the
wheelchair in this mode. This is achieved through R. Python
pattern recognition technique. Vision Assistant is Python is an open source programming language.
used for pattern recognition. Template images are Speech module has been used for voice control. A GUI
matched with the image of user. has been created using Tkinter module. Serial
User’s eyeball captured in real time. Depending communication is done using pyserial. Whenever a
upon the matched image microcontroller guides the particular command is detected a particular character
wheelchair in appropriate direction.Fig. 7 shows the is transmitted serially to the microcontroller. The
virtual instrument created in LabVIEW software. This microcontroller takes the necessary decision
is used for eyeball tracking. depending on the character received.

Proceedings of National Conf. on Recent Innovations in Science Engineering & Technology, 16th Aug 2015, Pune, India, ISBN: 978-93-85465-81-9
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 Patient Monitoring Smart Wheelchair

S. LabVIEW • Use of DAC to give precise analog values to the

LabVIEW (Laboratory Virtual instrument driver so that speed control can be achieved and the
Engineering Workbench) is a system design platform wheelchair user has a smooth experience.
and development environment for a visual
programming language from National Instruments. ACKNOWLEDGMENT
This software is used to implement eyeball control
mode. Machine Vision module has been used for The authors would like to thank their guide Mr.
eyeball tracking and VISA is used for serial Yogesh Chandurkarfor his valuable guidance,
communication. comments and suggestions to improve the quality of
the paper.
CONCLUSION
REFERENCES
The designed and implemented final wheelchair is
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Proceedings of National Conf. on Recent Innovations in Science Engineering & Technology, 16th Aug 2015, Pune, India, ISBN: 978-93-85465-81-9
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