by Christopher Sanchez
Daily Lobo
Every Tuesday morning for nine months, four UNM students have been working to make a voice-activated wheelchair a reality.
"This can really help people in the end. It can really serve a purpose later on and help somebody's life out," said Patrick Thomas, a UNM senior.
SAATI - a speech activated, all-terrain, interactive wheelchair - is one of 468 projects to be showcased at the University on Nov. 21 at the Undergraduate Research and Creativity Symposium.
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Thomas and his team members, Chris Martinez, J.P. Sena and Leanne Storey, have been working on the prototype for their senior design class, which is a two-semester course in the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department. The wheelchair is operated with a microphone and speaker that recognizes distinct commands from the user, Martinez said.
"The chair can go forward, back, left and right, and it has three different speeds," he said.
The chair will move forward if the user says, "SAATI, forward." If the user wants the prototype to stop, the user will say, "SAATI, stop."
There is also a way to put the chair in standby mode, which turns off the wheelchair in case commands recognized by the system come up in normal conversation, Thomas said.
The idea of a voice-activated wheelchair is one of a kind, he said, because no one has ever created one.
"The idea of voice recognition was something we were interested in," he said. "The actual idea of the wheelchair came from brainstorming. We couldn't find anyone who had done it."
He said the group will use the wheelchair at the symposium to show everyone how it works.
"It's kind of a like a science fair," Thomas said. "They will have a bunch of different projects."
The group might also present the wheelchair in the SUB for an hour, he said.
Storey said the voice activation device would help the elderly, paraplegic, quadriplegic and other wheelchair users.
"Eventually, you can put it on every wheelchair to cooperate in conjunction with their chair," she said.
Marvin Daniel, the instructor of the senior design class, said it is a breakthrough project because quadriplegics maneuver themselves around by sucking and blowing through a tube.
"If they can perfect this, they can definitely sell it," he said. "It can definitely be patented."
The project would have been impossible without the help of Nextek Mobility, a local custom wheelchair company, Storey said.
She said the company allowed the group to utilize a joystick-powered wheelchair for their prototype, which would have cost the team $10,000.
Brock Roberts, owner of Nextek Mobility, said the students are the most professional group he has ever seen and are making tremendous progress in their project.
"It's a breath of fresh air," he said. "They're working on something unique and something hard."
Daniel said the voice-activated wheelchair is the feature project of the semester. He is proud of the group's accomplishments, he said.
"You have certain kids that you see are working harder and accomplishing more than some of the others," he said. "That's why I nominated them for the research symposium."
The students have spent about $150 out of their pockets to fund the project, Storey said. She hopes the group will be able to receive a grant or be able to patent and sell their wheelchair.
The Undergraduate Research and Creativity Symposium is for undergraduates who want to showcase their creative work, invention or performance. Students can win their share of $10,000 in prize money. All participants are required to have a mentor or instructor.
