People with severe disabilities often rely on power wheelchairs for moving around. However, if their driving abilities are affected by their condition, driving a power wheelchair can become very dangerous, both for themselves and the surrounding environment. This article proposes the use of wearable vibrotactile haptics for wheelchair navigation assistance. We use one or two haptic armbands, each composed of four evenly-spaced vibrotactile actuators, for providing different navigation information to power wheelchair users. With respect to other available solutions, our approach provides rich navigation information while always leaving the patient in control of the wheelchair motion. Moreover, our armbands can be easily adapted for different limbs and can be used by all those patients who are unable to safely maneuver a kinesthetic interface. The results of two human subjects studies show the viability and effectiveness of the proposed technique with respect to not providing any environmental cue. Collisions were reduced by 49% when using the vibrotactile armbands. Moreover, most subjects expressed a preference for receiving haptic feedback and found the armbands comfortable to wear and use.

中文翻译：

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使用可穿戴振动触觉的电动轮椅导航辅助

重度残障人士经常依靠电动轮椅四处走动。然而，如果他们的驾驶能力受到他们身体状况的影响，驾驶电动轮椅对他们自己和周围环境来说都是非常危险的。本文建议使用可穿戴振动触觉触觉辅助轮椅导航。我们使用一个或两个触觉臂带，每个臂带由四个均匀分布的振动触觉致动器组成，为轮椅使用者提供不同的导航信息。相对于其他可用的解决方案，我们的方法提供了丰富的导航信息，同时始终让患者控制轮椅的运动。此外，我们的臂带可以轻松适应不同的肢体，并且可供所有无法安全操纵动觉接口的患者使用。两项人类受试者研究的结果表明，所提出的技术在不提供任何环境线索方面的可行性和有效性。使用振动触觉臂带时，碰撞减少了 49%。此外，大多数受试者表示更喜欢接收触觉反馈，并发现臂章佩戴和使用都很舒适。