Lee Ji-hoon, who was a member of South Korea’s para ice hockey team that won the bronze medal at the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Paralympics, demonstrates how to use a self-driving wheelchair with autonomous navigation technology as he takes part in an event to unveil the smart wheelchair at the Korean War Memorial in Seoul on April 28, 2021. (Yonhap)
SEONGNAM, June 11 (Korea Bizwire) — The city of Seongnam, Gyeonggi Province said Thursday that it will establish big data for the launch of a trial road guide service aimed at realizing the safe autonomous operation of electric wheelchairs.
The city government will collect a variety of information, including the road surface of sidewalks, piled-up goods on sidewalks, and bollards and obstacles in various trial areas by using two electric wheelchairs that are mounted with high-precision sensors.
After going through a labeling process, the data will be refined, processed and produced into intelligent big data sets.
The intelligent big data will be put to use for algorithms and intelligent sensors that the road guide service needs to ensure the safe autonomous operation of the electric wheelchairs.
The project aims to enable the electric wheelchairs to move safely and autonomously to their destination with minimal human intervention.
The city government will also carry out demonstration tests in collaboration with four other institutions, including the Korea Electronics Technology Institute.
Seongnam plans to operate the electric wheelchair self-driving road guide service on a trial basis by 2024 and upgrade the service by expanding the scope of trial areas on a yearly basis.
M. H. Lee (mhlee@koreabizwire.com)
