Abstract—This paper describes a docking method for cooperative step climbing for a wheelchair and a care robot which has individually driven wheels. The robot is moved by autonomous control or teleoperation, and the robot operator is able to switch to either method as the need arises. Therefore, this docking method applies the merits of both teleoperation and autonomous control, and the robot is able to connect to the wheelchair without a high-performance sensor system. In this paper, we discuss the connecting system, the procedure of docking the vehicles, and the theoretical analysis to connect the vehicles by using dual manipulators of the robot. The experimental results show the effectiveness of this method. 

Index Terms—docking, wheelchair, robot, connecting, step climbing

Cite: Docking Method for a Wheelchair and a care Robot Using Both Teleoperation and Autonomous Control, "Hidetoshi Ikeda, Nobuyuki Yamashima, Shogo Haruta, and Eiji Nakano," International Journal of Mechanical Engineering and Robotics Research, Vol. 5, No. 2, pp. 82-89, April 2016. DOI: 10.18178/ijmerr.5.2.82-89