Design and Experimental Evaluation of a Wireless Head-Gesture Controlled Smart Wheelchair for Assistive Mobility
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.66950/xcg4wr34Keywords:
Head-Gesture Control, Smart Wheelchair, Assistive Mobility, Bluetooth Communication, Ultrasonic Obstacle Detection, Dual-Mode ControlAbstract
This paper presents the design and experimental validation of a wireless head-gesture controlled smart wheelchair intended for individuals with severe motor impairments. The proposed system provides an alternative navigation interface for users who are unable to operate conventional joystick-based electric wheelchairs. Head orientation is measured using an MPU6050 inertial measurement unit integrated with an Arduino Nano transmitter, and motion commands are transmitted wirelessly via an HC-05 Bluetooth link to a receiver microcontroller responsible for motor actuation.
To improve operational stability, a moving-average filtering technique combined with threshold-based validation is implemented to minimize unintended head movements. The wheelchair operates in dual control modes, enabling seamless switching between head-gesture navigation and manual joystick control. For enhanced safety, an ultrasonic sensing module is incorporated through a hardware interrupt mechanism that immediately overrides motor commands when obstacles are detected within a predefined safety range.
Experimental results demonstrate an overall gesture-recognition accuracy of 98% with an average response time of approximately 240 ms, confirming stable and near real-time performance. By employing low-cost and widely available components, the proposed system offers a practical and reliable assistive mobility solution suitable for real-world deployment.
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Copyright (c) 2026 Belaid Belaidi, Fatima Hadjaj, Mohamed Belhadj, Boumedien Saied , Abdelbaset Himouri (Author)
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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License. Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication.
