Will accidents between power wheelchairs and the occasional doorjamb – or family dog – become things of the past?
GeckoSystems International Corp., based in Conyers, Ga., and maker of what it terms “mobile robot solutions for safety, security and service,” says its inventions enable “cost-effective retrofitting of electric wheelchairs to be ‘collision proof.'”
According to a news release, the company is developing a retrofit kit that “may be added to most joystick-operated electric wheelchairs. The wheelchair occupant would simply move the joystick in the direction they wish to go, and GeckoNav would automatically seek that desired direction while avoiding any and all obstacles, whether stationary or moving.”
GeckoNav is the company’s navigation software. The software operates based on input from GeckoImager, which uses a sensor fusion system to gather environmental information.
The cost of the system?
Martin Spencer, GeckoSystems’ president/CEO, said, “We expect the cost to the end-user, completely installed, to be only a few thousand dollars for this heightened level of safety for not only the occupant of the wheelchair, but also those persons around them.” Fans of artificial intelligence and its potential applications can visit geckosystems.com.
