FEIT Public Lecture - Thought-controlled Intelligent Machine, TIM

A new smart wheelchair for people with severe physical disability

Today in Australia there are around 700 thousand people living with severe disability, and many do not have access to any form of independence in mobility. To address this issue a hands-free, smart wheelchair named TIM (Thought-controlled Intelligent Machine) has been created at the University of Technology, Sydney. This smart wheelchair is aimed at providing new means of wheelchair control, such as thought-control, for those who currently cannot use any available control options. In addition, this wheelchair can sense its surroundings and provide safe manoeuvering assistance during navigation.

Jordan Nguyen became involved in this research as part of his final year undergraduate project and in 2009 was awarded a scholarship to continue the research. Now nearing the completion of his PhD, Jordan will take you through the research undertaken and explain how 'TIM' will allow severely disabled people to control their chairs using only the power of their minds and some head movement, and how the wheelchair uses its cameras to see and intelligently decide how to avoid obstacles by constantly working out the safest directions to travel based on the user's intentions.

This is a free public lecture presented by UTS Faculty of Engineering and Information Technology and is also part of the Ultimo Science Festival, supported by the City of Sydney and the Australian Government.

For further information on research being undertake in the faculty visit FEIT Research.