Year: 2026
Type: article
Abstract: Smart wheelchairs have the potential to significantly improve autonomy for individuals with severe motor impairments, yet existing systems often exhibit limited speech robustness, insufficient handling of dynamic environments, and a lack of rigorously validated safety mechanisms. This work presents a fully integrated, voice-controlled smart wheelchair that advances assistive mobility through three main contributions. First, we introduce an inclusive speech-recognition module built from a fine-tuned deep learning model trained on a custom dataset that incorporates recordings from users with mild speech impairments. This adaptation improves robustness to non-standard pronunciation and maintains reliable command execution under realistic noise conditions (70-75 dB), achieving a Word Error Rate of 6.7% in quiet environments. Second, rather than proposing a new SLAM method, we develop a system-level navigation framework that optimally integrates 2D LiDAR-based SLAM (GMapping), AMCL localization, and a dual-level voice-command interface within a real-time coordination layer. This includes a quantitatively parameterized safety module featuring adaptive speed modulation and experimentally calibrated emergency-stop thresholds, ensuring reliable operation in dynamic indoor environments. Third, we conduct an extensive experimental campaign in both simulation and real-world conditions to provide a reproducible and quantitative evaluation of system performance. Tests involving dynamic obstacles (pedestrians, wheeled carts, small animals), constrained passages, and diverse acoustic settings demonstrate a mean localization error below 10 cm, a 94% goal-completion rate, and an end-to-end voice-to-motion latency of 0.8 s. Together, these contributions provide a low-cost, experimentally validated assistive-mobility platform that emphasizes inclusive voice interaction, robust real-time navigation, and safety-aware behavior. The proposed framework moves beyond component-level studies by offering a coherent, deployable, and reproducible solution for everyday indoor environments.
Source: Scientific Reports
Authors: Walid Benayed, Mohamed Slim Masmoudi
Institution: University of Sfax
Language: English
Subfield: Aerospace Engineering
Field: Engineering
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: gold
Estimated APC paid: $2,690
OpenAlex ID: W7123803239