Ph.D. Dissertation Defense “AN AUTONOMOUS INTELLIGENT ROBOTIC WHEELCHAIR TO ASSIST PEOPLE IN NEED: Standing-up, Turing-around, and Sitting-down” By Iosif Papadakis Ktistakis

Ph.D. Committee:  Drs. Nikolaos Bourbakis, Advisor, Soon Chung, Yong Pei, Sherry Farra (College of Nursing and Health), and Miltiadis Alamaniotis (University of Texas, San Antonio)

ABSTRACT

The world’s ageing population has significantly increased over the last decades, which will result in one of the most significant transformations of the twenty-first century. As people age, they become more vulnerable to diseases and their health may need constant monitoring. At the same time, the number of people who have some kind of disability is also increasing. These people with disabilities may need daily assistance and monitoring of their health condition that is provided by specialists (health providers) at a high cost.

A possible solution to the aforementioned problem comes from the assistive and intelligent robotics research area. The profound importance of this research area derives from several necessities of the people that belong in these groups when in hospitals or at homes. The most important necessity is to have a more independent life with increased personal autonomy. However, although assistive and intelligent robotics have significantly advanced, they are still far from completely replacing the human provider.

In an effort to advance the potential and capabilities of assistive-intelligent robotics, we proposed an intelligent robotic wheelchair that is able to assist people in need. In particular, the system will assist the user to stand up, turn around, sit down or perform rehabilitation exercises. Therefore, the goal of such a system is real time response in assisting users in daily activities with active participation, that leads to quality of life improvement for certain categories of people in need.