Wheelchair on Autopilot Follows Bipedaled Humans, Saitama Medical University Reveals

MedGadget -- Engineers at Saitama University's Human-Robot Interaction Center in Saitama, Japan have created a wheelchair movement system that keeps it always next to a walking person wearing a radio beacon. The wheelchair is smart enough to realize both its position and orientation relative to the person guiding it and realizes when its best to follow behind rather than on the side in tight and congested areas. Undoubtedly this is a big deal for people with disabilities for whom controlling the wheelchair is in itself a challenge. Judging by the video below, which demonstrates the wheelchair in a public area, it looks like it's just about ready for commercial production.