{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2025,10,17]],"date-time":"2025-10-17T14:20:03Z","timestamp":1760710803722,"version":"build-2065373602"},"reference-count":43,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"23","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2021,11,24]],"date-time":"2021-11-24T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1637712000000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"name":"VA Center for Excellence for Wheelchairs and Assistive Robotics Engineering","award":["B2988C"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["B2988C"]}]},{"name":"VA Career Development Award","award":["A3076M"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["A3076M"]}]},{"name":"US Department of Transport-UTC","award":["69A3552047140"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["69A3552047140"]}]},{"name":"VA Senior Research Career Scientist Award","award":["B9269-L"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["B9269-L"]}]},{"name":"Craig H. Nielsen Spinal Foundation","award":["#"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["#"]}]},{"name":"National Institute on Disability","award":["#"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["#"]}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Sensors"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Common electric powered wheelchairs cannot safely negotiate architectural barriers (i.e., curbs) which could injure the user and damage the wheelchair. Robotic wheelchairs have been developed to address this issue; however, proper alignment performed by the user is needed prior to negotiating curbs. Users with physical and\/or sensory impairments may find it challenging to negotiate such barriers. Hence, a Curb Recognition and Negotiation (CRN) system was developed to increase user\u2019s speed and safety when negotiating a curb. This article describes the CRN system which combines an existing curb negotiation application of a mobility enhancement robot (MEBot) and a plane extraction algorithm called Polylidar3D to recognize curb characteristics and automatically approach and negotiate curbs. The accuracy and reliability of the CRN system were evaluated to detect an engineered curb with known height and 15 starting positions in controlled conditions. The CRN system successfully recognized curbs at 14 out of 15 starting positions and correctly determined the height and distance for the MEBot to travel towards the curb. While the MEBot curb alignment was 1.5 \u00b1 4.4\u00b0, the curb ascending was executed safely. The findings provide support for the implementation of a robotic wheelchair to increase speed and reduce human error when negotiating curbs and improve accessibility.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/s21237810","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2021,12,1]],"date-time":"2021-12-01T01:45:02Z","timestamp":1638323102000},"page":"7810","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":7,"title":["Automated Curb Recognition and Negotiation for Robotic Wheelchairs"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"21","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-6121-5142","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Sivashankar","family":"Sivakanthan","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA 15260, USA"},{"name":"US Department of Veterans Affairs, Pittsburgh, PA 15206, USA"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-5458-9787","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Jeremy","family":"Castagno","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Robotics Institute, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USA"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-4326-2022","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Jorge L.","family":"Candiotti","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA 15260, USA"},{"name":"US Department of Veterans Affairs, Pittsburgh, PA 15206, USA"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-7647-1712","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Jie","family":"Zhou","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA 15260, USA"},{"name":"US Department of Veterans Affairs, Pittsburgh, PA 15206, USA"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Satish Andrea","family":"Sundaram","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA 15260, USA"},{"name":"US Department of Veterans Affairs, Pittsburgh, PA 15206, USA"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-2132-6256","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Ella M.","family":"Atkins","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Robotics Institute, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USA"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Rory A.","family":"Cooper","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA 15260, USA"},{"name":"US Department of Veterans Affairs, Pittsburgh, PA 15206, USA"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2021,11,24]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"61","DOI":"10.1080\/10400435.2008.10131933","article-title":"Trends and issues in wheelchair technologies","volume":"20","author":"Cooper","year":"2008","journal-title":"Assist. 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