MIT's New Wheelchair Drives Itself

For all the talk of self-driving vehicles revolutionizing transportation, the technology promises to do even more for the elderly and disabled by allowing them to enjoy sustained independence. Autonomous vehicles will allow aging Baby Boomers to continue driving, and MIT researchers have packed the same hardware into a wheelchair. "I see the technology as impacting anybody who is confined in their motions," says MIT researcher Daniela Rus, who started on this project after visiting a retirement community, and noticing there weren't enough staff members on hand to help everyone in a wheelchair move as much as they wanted to. Equipped with three LiDAR sensors, the wheelchair works much like a self-driving car. Before going into service, someone manually drives it through a given area, and the sensors build a map details how wide the hallways are, where the pillars are, and so on.