Main Contributor: Luna Takagi

Abstract

We introduce LUNAChair, a remote control and communication system that uses omnidirectional video to connect a remote caregiver to a wheelchair user and a third person around the wheelchair. With the recent growing need for wheelchairs, much of the wheelchair research has focused on wheelchair control, such as fully automatic driving and remote operation. For wheelchair users, conversations with caregivers and third persons around them are also important. Therefore, we propose a system that connects a wheelchair user and a remote caregiver using omnidirectional cameras, which allows the remote caregiver to control the wheelchair while observing both the wheelchair user and his/her surroundings. Moreover, the system facilitates communication by using gaze and hand pointing estimation from an omnidirectional video.

Citarion Format

  1. Luna Takagi, Shio Miyafuji, Jefferson Pardomuan, and Hideki Koike. 2023. LUNAChair: Remote Wheelchair System Linking Users to Nearby People and Assistants. In Proceedings of the Augmented Humans International Conference 2023 (AHs ‘23). Association for Computing Machinery, New York, NY, USA, 122–134. https://doi.org/10.1145/3582700.3582714

  2. 高木瑠名，宮藤詩緒，ジェフェルソンパルドムアン，小池英樹, “車椅子使用者を周囲の人と遠隔介助者に繋ぐ遠隔車椅子システム”, 日本ソフトウェア科学会, 第30回インタラクティブシステムとソフトウェアに関するワークショップ (WISS2022), No.13, pp.94-101, 宮城県, 蔵王, 2022年12月. https://www.wiss.org/WISS2022Proceedings/data/13.pdf

  3. Luna Takagi, Shio Miyafuji, Jefferson Pardomuan, and Hideki Koike. 2022. LUNAChair: Remote Wheelchair System that Links Up a Remote Caregiver and Wheelchair Surroundings. In Adjunct Proceedings of the 35th Annual ACM Symposium on User Interface Software and Technology (UIST ‘22 Adjunct). Association for Computing Machinery, New York, NY, USA, Article 40, 1–3. https://doi.org/10.1145/3526114.3558729