This paper discusses a step climbing strategy using a wheelchair and a teleoperated care robot that avoids collisions between the wheelchair’s front wheels and the step wall. In our method, the two vehicles are connected and use the velocity difference between them to climb steps. Since the wheelchair’s front wheels, or another part of the wheelchair, tend to collide with the step being mounted while the wheelchair front wheels are in the lifted position, we investigated a system that permits switching between teleoperation and autonomous control to avoid this problem. In our proposed system, the wheelchair step climbing process is performed under autonomous control, while the robot step climbing process is performed under teleoperation control by a remote caregiver. Theoretical analysis and accompanying calculations were performed to clarify the most suitable lifting position for wheelchair front wheels when climbing, and our experimental results show the overall effectiveness of this system.
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