Webpage: www.ijaret.

org Volume 3, Issue V, May 2015

ISSN 2320-6802

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL FOR ADVANCE RESEARCH IN

ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY
WINGS TO YOUR THOUGHTS…..

Smart Android Wheelchair Controller Design

K. A. A. Aziz1, M. H. Mustafa2, N. M. Z. Hashim3,
N. R. M. Nuri4, A. F. Kadmin5, A. Salleh6
1, 2, 4, 5
Faculty of Engineering Technology,
Universiti Teknikal Malaysia Melaka,
76100 Hang Tuah Jaya, Durian Tunggal, Melaka, Malaysia.
1
khairulazha@utem.edu.my, 4nrashid@utem.edu.my, 5fauzan@utem.edu.my
3, 6
Center for Telecommunication Research & Innovation (CeTRI),
Faculty of Electronic and Computer Engineering,
Universiti Teknikal Malaysia Melaka,
76100 Hang Tuah Jaya, Durian Tunggal, Melaka, Malaysia.
3
nikzarifie@utem.edu.my, 6azahari@utem.edu.my

Abstract: This project is related to the android-based wheelchair controller. The system is designed to control a
wheelchair by using an android device. The objective of this project is to facilitate the movement of disable people or
handicapped and also the senior people who are not able to move well. The result of this design will allow the special
people to live a life with less dependence on others. Android technology is a key which may provide a new approach
of human interaction with machines or tools. Thus their problem can be solved by using android technology to control
the movement of a wheelchair. In this project, Basic4android interface is designed to program the android device that
will be able to control the movement of wheelchair. This project integrated IOIO board and direct current motor to
create the movement of wheelchair. The results of this project showed that this project can be used for future research
works and to design excellence innovation that meets market need and public interest.
Keywords: Android, Direct Current, IOIO Board, Motor.

1. INTRODUCTION to be applied by the user [4]. The four conditions of

While the needs of many individuals with disabilities the wheelchair can be described as the following:
can be satisfied with power wheelchairs, some a. Moving forward
members of the disabled community find it is difficult b. Moving backward
or impossible to operate a standard power wheelchair. c. Turning to the right
This project could be part of an assistive technology. It d. Turning to the left
is for more independent, productive and enjoyable This project also provided a controller to the electrical
living. Android-based wheelchair controller is a system appliance by using radio frequency as a wireless
where the DC motor is used to move the wheelchair. connection between control box and electrical
Nowadays, handicapped people face problem to appliance. Figure 1 shows the block diagram for
control wheelchair by themselves. Sometimes they overall of the project.
need other people to help them. This project will
provide a new way to control the movement of
wheelchair such as turn direction to left, right, forward
and reverse direction. The overall wheelchair
operation uses DC motor and motor driver module
combines with microcontroller system for instance
IOIO board [1]-[2]. Android-based wheelchair
controller that consists of android device and a control
box that can be attached to standard wheelchairs to
control the movement by using a DC motor. Bluetooth
communication protocol is used to communicate
sensory and command information between the
android device and the control box [3].
There are 4 options for basic motions of a wheelchair Figure 1 Block diagram for overview project

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Webpage: www.ijaret.org Volume 3, Issue V, May 2015
ISSN 2320-6802

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL FOR ADVANCE RESEARCH IN

ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY
WINGS TO YOUR THOUGHTS…..
2. METHODOLOGY power supply for the DC motor and it’s connected to
The project is conducted as the flow chart in Figure 2 the connector pin input power on the motor driver. Pin
below. 35 until pin 38 are used for RF transmitter data from
D0, D1, D2, and D3. Power supply for the RF
START transmitter module are from digital output pin 39. This
is to trigger the output data. RF receiver used external
power supply 12V DC from DC power supply adapter.
Identify problem
2.2 Software Implementation
For software implementation, basic4android (basic for
android) software is used for user interface purpose
Find information
and to program Android-based wheelchair controller
was installed in this project [5]. Flowchart for software
implementation is shown in Figure 4.
Design

Test

Implementation

Analysis

END

Figure 2 Flow Chart of the Overall Project

2.1 Circuit Design

Circuit for the project is designed with IOIO board
module and two motor driver module (MD30C). PWM
and DIR pin for both motor driver are connected to
IOIO board that have configuration for PWM output.
The voltage input that supply for the IOIO board is
based on the LIPO battery 7.4V 900mAH. IOIO board
can support supply input from 5V to 15V.

Figure 4 Flowchart for software implementation

After completing the circuit design, by using IOIO

board module and two motor driver module, the
coding for android is designed by using the
programmer software such as basic4android software.
Figure 3 Implementation of DC Motor with IOIO Android application are created with basic4android
Board. software by using visual basic (VB) language. This
software will compile the programing code then
Pin 31 and pin 33 are used for PWM output motor produce an installation for android phone.
driver MD30C while pin 32 and 34 are used for DIR
(direction). Battery 12V sealed acid lead is used for

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Webpage: www.ijaret.org Volume 3, Issue V, May 2015
ISSN 2320-6802

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL FOR ADVANCE RESEARCH IN

ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY
WINGS TO YOUR THOUGHTS…..
Battery 12V 7AH are placed into the battery box to
ease the user to recharge the battery. There are pin
outside the battery box for charging pin. User can
recharge the battery without have to open the battery
box.

Figure 5 Basic Design for Android Phone by Using

Basic4android Software
2.3 Hardware implementation
In hardware implementation, there are two part
involved which are mechanical part and electronic
part. Mechanical part is about how the wheelchair is
developed and modified [6]-[8]. In electronic part, it
consists of the development of control box [9]-[12].
The control box consist of IOIO board and motor
driver as shown in Figure 6 below.
Figure 8 Android-Based Wheelchair Controller

The connection between motor driver and the 12V

battery are using multi-core wire 2.5mm. Multi-core
wire 2.5mm are used to support high ampere supply to
the motor driver.

Figure 6 Control Box

There are two board of motor driver and IOIO board

are placed into the control box. User can switches
ON/OFF easily because switches for IOIO board and
battery supply are below the chair that can be achieved
by the user’s hand. There are RF transmitter module to
communicate with the RF receiver module[13]-[15].
This part is to control the electrical appliances directly
from android phone.
Figure 9 RF Receiver Circuit with Output Relay

Figure 9 shows the RF receiver module with the relay

output to control the appliance from the android
phone. Relay act as a switch to turn ON or OFF the
electrical appliance. The connection of the relay to
control the electrical appliance is parallel with the
switch on the 3 pin plug socket. Figure 10
demonstrates the internal connection of the 3pin plug
socket.
Figure 7 Battery Box

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INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL FOR ADVANCE RESEARCH IN

ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY
WINGS TO YOUR THOUGHTS…..
Table 3 The Truth Table for Each Movement
Right Wheel Left Wheel
PIN Condition
Button PIN PIN PIN
32 Of
Command 31 33 34
DI Wheelchair
PWM PWM DIR
R
Move
1 0 1 0
Forward
Turning To
1 1 1 0
The Right
1 1 1 1 Reverse
Turning To
Figure 10 Internal Connection of the 3-Pin Plug 1 0 1 1
The Left
Socket -
0 0 0 0 Stop

3. RESULT AND ANALYSIS Compass Analysis

There are few tests have been done to find the analysis
Make an analysis to compare between the android
for this project.
phone (electronic compass) compass and actual
Movement of Wheelchair
compass (analog compass). On this analysis, 8 poles
Movement of the wheelchair are according to the pin
are taken into consideration for compass analysis.
configuration at motor driver. There are 3 pins to
Firstly, synchronize the paper that have a printed
control the DC motor which are pin PWM, pin DIR,
compass with the actual compass device.
and GND pin. PWM and DIR pin are according to the
truth table.

Table 1 Pin Configuration of the Motor Driver

Pin 2 PIN 3 OUT OUT
MOTOR
(PWM) (DIR) A B
X (Don’t
Low Low Low Stop
Care)
High Low High Low Clockwise
Anti-
High High Low High
Clockwise
Based on Table 1 the movement of the wheelchair with
the wheel direction and one wheel will going inversely Figure 11 Printed Compass with the Actual
when turning to the right or left. Compass

Table 2 Declaration of the Movement of the Fix the paper to the right position and make sure the
Wheelchair paper are not moving. Place the phone according to the
Button Left Right Condition Of position needed by following printed paper that have 8
Command Wheel Wheel Wheelchair pole.
Move
Forward Forward
Forward
Reverse Reverse Reverse
Turning To
Forward Reverse
The Right
Turning To
Reverse Forward
The Left
- Stop Stop Stop

Pin 31 until pin 34 are used as a pin controller for DC

motor. This condition can be refer to the truth table of
the motor driver MD30C.
Figure 12 Placing Phone with the Printed Compass

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Collect all the data and compare it with the actual correct direction of Qibla that guided by buzzer that
compass to the Table 4. Electronic compass have a bit sounds right on the direction of Qibla.
difference value with the actual compass.
RF Transmitter and RF Receiver
Table 4 Comparison between Electronic Compass To make the RF receiver trigger the K1 and K2 relay
Reading and Actual Compass Reading output, RF transmitter have to turn ON the module
Direction ( °) Degree ( °) when data transmit and turn OFF after done transmit
North (360°) 357.99° the data. This is because when the RF transmitter
North east (45°) 45.86° always ON, new data will not send to the RF receiver.
East (90°) 93.97° To make this happen, the interface for switch button
South east (135°) 139.60° need a separate program. Figure below is a sample of
South (180°) 179.99° coding to turn ON the K2. Table 7 shows the
South west (225°) 222.51° configuration of the data for RF receiver.
West (270°) 267.41°
North west (315°) 313.05°
Table 7 Configuration Data for RF Module
Data Output relay
The position of the wheelchair are important to make Button
D0 D1 D2 D3 K1 K2
sure the wheelchair will turning to the right direction. S1 ON 0 0 0 1 ON OFF
Table below shown the position of wheelchair that S1 OFF 0 0 1 0 OFF OFF
need to make a turn to find a Qibla direction. S2 ON 0 1 0 0 OFF ON
S2 OFF 1 0 0 0 OFF OFF
Table 5 Range Searching for Qibla Direction
Wheelchair position angle
Movement of wheelchair
(X)
123° < X < 290° Turn to right
X < 123° Turn to left
X > 330° Turn to left

Table 6 Angle Range for Qibla Direction

Qibla Direction Angle (X) Movement of Wheelchair
Stop and turn to left for 3
285° > X > 255°
second
Stop and turn to right for 3
315° > X > 285°
second
290° > X > 280° Stop
Table 13 Output Relay 1 (K1)
Table 6 above shown the angle range for Qibla
direction to stop the wheelchair at the correct Figure 13 showed the output for relay 1 when RF
direction. This Qibla direction are not too accurate receiver receive data 0001 from the RF transmitter
because of the inertia that happen when turning the module. The output from the 3 pin plug socket can be
wheelchair to the right or left. To reduce the distance switch ON by using android phone or manual switch at
wheelchair strayed from the direction of Qibla, this 3 pin plug socket.
project is added with other coding in order to make the
attraction towards the opposite rotation when rotation
4. DISCUSSION
of the wheelchair occur. If wheelchair are turning to
There are few software that can create an application
right, when it reach to the Qibla direction of angle the
for android platform with different type of code
wheelchair will stop and make a turning to left for 3
language such as Eclipse software used java language
second. This will make the motor stop from going far
and basic4android software used Visual Basic
from Qibla direction. However, this system still not
language. For this project, basic4android software is
make the wheelchair stop to the correct angle because
used as a platform to create the application for android
it still have a large inertia value when battery in fully
phone. Basic4android software is used to create the
charge or vice versa. To make sure user in the correct
applications for the android platform. Figure 14 shown
direction of Qibla, this project added buzzer when the
the interface of the application for android-based
wheelchair reach at the correct angle of Qibla. User
wheelchair controller.
also can manually turn the wheelchair to find the
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Webpage: www.ijaret.org Volume 3, Issue V, May 2015
ISSN 2320-6802

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL FOR ADVANCE RESEARCH IN

ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY
WINGS TO YOUR THOUGHTS…..
5. CONCLUSION
As a conclusion, the objectives of this project have
been achieved successfully where this project was able
to develop an android system that can control the
movement of the wheelchair and to develop an android
system that can control two appliance with the android
phone. The development of an android-based
wheelchair controller was fully functional base on the
objective which are targeted before started this project.
Finally all the combination circuits and the DC scooter
motor were embedded to the wheelchair. This project
gives an idea on how to combine all the circuit board,
DC scooter motor, and electronics components
together in one whole system. As a future
improvement, replacement of the DC scooter motor
Figure 14 Android-Based Wheelchair Controller in with the DC motor with geared is recommended
Android Device. because to make the Qibla more accurate.

There are 2 toggle button to do a connection to the Acknowledgement

Bluetooth which are check BT and Conn BT. Check We are grateful to Universiti Teknikal Malaysia
BT are used to check the Bluetooth condition. Which Melaka (UTeM) and Centre for Telecommunication
mean to check Bluetooth either OFF or ON condition. Research and Innovation (CeTRI) through
Conn BT is used to connect the Bluetooth with the PJP/2014/FTK (4B)/S01305 for their kind and help for
hardware (Control Box). Wired connection is also supporting financially and supplying the electronic
provided to allowed user to connect their phone with components and giving their laboratory facility to
the control box by using wire. But the wired complete this study.
connection only limited to the android version 4.1 and
below. References
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ISSN 2320-6802

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL FOR ADVANCE RESEARCH IN

ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY
WINGS TO YOUR THOUGHTS…..
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