The most ubiquitous assistive machine is the power wheelchair. It endows independent mobility to many with motor impairments that result from disease or injury. Yet, there are millions for whom the independent operation of power wheelchairs remains overly burdensome, or even entirely inaccessible. The reasons are (1) a deficiency in the ability of current interfaces to effectively capture control commands from bodies with limited movement capabilities, and (2) a lack of driver assistance options that ensure safety and efficacy for all wheelchair operators, even those with very limited motor ability. The result is a deprivation—for persons with disabilities, and their caregivers—of independence and engagement within the community and workforce. We propose to accelerate the accessibility and utility of power wheelchairs by radically changing how control inputs are captured from the human body and transferred to the machine, and by leveraging practical machine intelligence to enhance safety and facilitate independent wheelchair operation.

Our work will accomplish the following research thrusts, each of which will produce a hardware and software deliverable. By the end of Phase 1, two prototypes that integrate all deliverables will have been built.

•Thrust 1: Bridging the gap in accessible wheelchair control between drivers who can operate a joystick and those who cannot, through the contribution of a novel control interface that conforms to the user and offer fully expressive wheelchair control.

• Thrust 2: Modernizing and democratizing the development of future wheelchair input mechanisms, through the contribution of an open-source and digital API for bilateral communication between wheelchair control systems and input devices.

• Thrust 3: Advancing safety and independence with wheelchair intelligence, through expanded wheelchair assistance that incorporates commercial-grade robot navigation capabilities into the only commericiallyavialable, FDA-registered driver assistance system for power wheelchairs.

Our primary goal is to accelerate the accessibility of independent wheelchair operation by severely motorimpaired populations—promoting their personal independence, and reducing caregiver burden. Our secondary goal is to translate (in Phase 2) our advances in accessible interfaces and input mechanisms (Thrusts 1 and 2) from wheelchairs to computer use, with impact now beyond mobility and power wheelchair use to more effective engagement in the workforce.