Electric Powered Wheelchair Trajectory Planning on Artificial Potential Field Method

An addendum of People with Disabilities (PWDs) worldwide quite worries the World Health Organization in which they are consist of people that incapability of doing their own daily routine without the aid of a third party. The third party may consist of a person or a specific equipment or tools that could aid for their daily mobility. This paper tends to help PWDs with their daily routine by introducing a path planning method that recognize the trajectory of the route by using the Artificial Potential Field Method (APF) that will act as an algorithm in a control system of an Electric Powered Wheelchair (EPW). The EPW will be modelled into the MATLAB and Simulink according to the parameters such as inductance, resistance, and driving torque that is exactly as an actual model. Artificial Potential Field Method (APF) are consist of two main force field, Repulsive Force Field (RFF) and Attractive Force Field (AFF). The Repulsive Force Field (RFF) is designated as obstacle on a path whereas influencing the EPW to navigate away from the obstacle. While the Attractive Force Field (AFF) act as goal or the destination that designated for the EPW in which the EPW will be navigated in a way by approaching towards the AFF. The RFF consists of spacing headway that defines the distance from the obstacle to the EPW and while the limit distance is the maximum distance for the EPW to navigate away from the obstacle before the EPW collides with the obstacle. The strategy is to control the trajectory of the EPW during the obstacle avoidance with yaw angular velocity of the EPW. With spacing headway, limit distance and yaw angular velocity results, the trajectory of the EPW during the obstacle avoidance could be determined.