
With the help of AI, robots, tractors and baby strollers - even skate parks - are becoming autonomous. One developer, Kabilan KB, is bringing autonomous-navigation capabilities to wheelchairs, which could help improve mobility for people with disabilities.
The undergraduate from the Karunya Institute of Technology and Sciences in Coimbatore, India, is powering his autonomous wheelchair project using the NVIDIA Jetson platform for edge AI and robotics.
The autonomous motorized wheelchair is connected to depth and lidar sensors - along with USB cameras - which allow it to perceive the environment and plan an obstacle-free path toward a user's desired destination.
A person using the motorized wheelchair could provide the location they need to move to, which would already be programmed in the autonomous navigation system or path-planned with assigned numerical values, KB said. For example, they could press one' for the kitchen or two' for the bedroom, and the autonomous wheelchair will take them there.
An NVIDIA Jetson Nano Developer Kit processes data from the cameras and sensors in real time. It then uses deep learning-based computer vision models to detect obstacles in the environment.
The developer kit acts as the brain of the autonomous system - generating a 2D map of its surroundings to plan a collision-free path to the destination - and sends updated signals to the motorized wheelchair to help ensure safe navigation along the way.
About the Maker KB, who has a background in mechanical engineering, became fascinated with AI and robotics during the pandemic, when he spent his free time searching up educational YouTube videos on the topics.
He's now working toward a bachelor's degree in robotics and automation at the Karunya Institute of Technology and Sciences and aspires to one day launch a robotics startup.
KB, a self-described supporter of self-education, has also received several certifications from the NVIDIA Deep Learning Institute, including Building Video AI Applications at the Edge on Jetson Nano and Develop, Customize and Publish in Omniverse With Extensions.
Once he learned the basics of robotics, he began experimenting with simulation in NVIDIA Omniverse, a platform for building and operating 3D tools and applications based on the OpenUSD framework.
Using Omniverse for simulation, I don't need to invest heavily in prototyping models for my robots, because I can use synthetic data generation instead, he said. It's the software of the future.
His Inspiration With this latest NVIDIA Jetson project, KB aimed to create a device that could be helpful for his cousin, who has a mobility disorder, and other people with disabilities who might not be able to control a manual or motorized wheelchair.
Sometimes, people don't have the money to buy an electric wheelchair, KB said. In India, only upper- and middle-class people can afford them, so I decided to use the most basic type of motorized wheelchair available and connect it to the Jetson to make it autonomous.
The personal project was funded by the Program in Global Surgery and Social Change, which is jointly positioned under the Boston Children's Hospital and Harvard Medical School.
His Jetson Project After purchasing the basic motorized wheelchair, KB connected its motor hub with the NVIDIA Jetson Nano and lidar and depth cameras.
He trained the AI algorithms for the autonomous wheelchair using YOLO object detection on the Jetson Nano, as well as the Robot Operating System, or ROS, a popular software for building robotics applications.
The wheelchair can tap these algorithms to perceive and map its environment and plan a collision-free path.
The NVIDIA Jetson Nano's real-time processing speed prevents delays or lags for the user, said KB, who's been working on the project's prototype since June. The developer dives into the technical components of the autonomous wheelchair on his blog. A demo of the autonomous wheelchair has also been featured on the Karunya Innovation and Design Studio YouTube channel.
Looking forward, he envisions his project could be expanded to allow users to control a wheelchair using brain signals from electroencephalograms, or EEGs, that are connected to machine learning algorithms.
I want to make a product that would let a person with a full mobility disorder control their wheelchair by simply thinking, I want to go there,' KB said.
Learn more about the NVIDIA Jetson platform.
North America Stories
30/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
30/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
30/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
30/05/2026
Zero in on one that says yes (and no)
Andy Marken May 29, 2026
0 Comments
Hero image courtesy of Deposit Photos
For content creators the most difficu...
29/05/2026
With InfoComm 2026 just weeks away, NDI is giving attendees plenty of reasons to...
29/05/2026
Reaffirming a partnership that has defined Canadian sports broadcasting since 19...
29/05/2026
Mobile/tablet is No. 2 device for watching TV, suggesting that the sports-production industry needs to take another look at the format
Ring Digital's Sprin...
29/05/2026
Berliner Ensemble, one of Berlin's five major theater companies, has expande...
29/05/2026
Solid State Logic will showcase its new compact, fly-away TCA Tour audio product...
29/05/2026
Gerald (Jerry) Pierce, a pioneering technologist who helped shape the digital transformation of the motion picture industry, passed away last month on April 12 ...
29/05/2026
Paramount+ will be the English-language U.S. home for Barclays Women's Super...
29/05/2026
Further strengthening its virtualisation strategy to fully support broadcasters ...
29/05/2026
Swiss broadcaster Canal Alpha has deployed Harmonic's award-winning, software-based XOS Advanced Media Processor to modernize playout operations across cant...
29/05/2026
PTZOptics will showcase a new generation of intelligent video workflows at InfoComm 2026, June 17-19, Las Vegas. Visitors to booth N8227 will see how PTZOptics ...
29/05/2026
Arizona's Family has launched the Arizona's Family Sports (AZFS) streaming app, a new direct-to-consumer destination for live, local sports. The app is ...
29/05/2026
Starting in 2027, DAZN will be the exclusive home of The Canadian Football Leagu...
29/05/2026
Comcast Business has detailed the advanced network infrastructure it has deploye...
29/05/2026
In two-day event, leaders from academia and industry explored solutions to chall...
29/05/2026
The Basketball Tournament (TBT), now entering their 13th year of competition, ha...
29/05/2026
Roku has launched FOX One as a Premium Subscription on The Roku Channel in the U.S. Roku customers can now subscribe to FOX One using their Roku account for liv...
29/05/2026
In its sixth year, the broadcaster's coverage has become a global brand and ...
29/05/2026
Ratings Roundup is a rundown of recent ratings news and is derived from press re...
29/05/2026
Gerald (Jerry) Pierce, a pioneering technologist who helped shape the digital transformation of the motion picture industry, died April 12, 2026, at his home in...
29/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
29/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
29/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
29/05/2026
Comparing 5 AI Video Enhancers for Restoring Old Video Quality
Kate Luvis May 29, 2026
0 Comments
Digitizing VHS, MiniDV, and other legacy formats doe...
29/05/2026
Studio Hamburg Builds New Post Pipeline with DaVinci Resolve Studio
Brie Clayton May 29, 2026
0 Comments
Workflow replaces a patchwork of legacy tools...
29/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
29/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
29/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
29/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
29/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
29/05/2026
At the Intersection of Music and Dance, an Epic Collaboration Boston Conservatory musicians and dancers found creative parallels in their recent performance o...
29/05/2026
Back to All News
Latino Film Institute Fellows Screen Their Short Films at the Egyptian Theatre
The Inclusion Fellowship and Spark Animation Grant uplifts 15 ...
29/05/2026
GLOOKAST LAUNCHES CINNAFILM TACHYON PLUGIN FOR MEDIA PRODUCER AND MEDIA SERVICES
This release first appeared here.
Visit our Tachyon product page or contact...
29/05/2026
Something fundamental has shifted in how people consume media. Audiences aren't abandoning television or radio content; they're just expanding how, wher...
29/05/2026
Back to All News
The Official Trailer of Physical 100 Italy, on Netflix From Se...
29/05/2026
Experimental HIV vaccine achieves a long-sought goal In a first for the field, all non-human primates given a new series of vaccines generated antibodies capabl...
28/05/2026
FOX Sports' MLB coverage dominated the night at the 47th Annual Sports Emmy ...
28/05/2026
One of the most memorable postseasons in baseball history would have had no memo...
28/05/2026
NBC's Sunday Night Football is among the most-decorated and most-watched pro...
28/05/2026
The 2026 Sports Emmys marked a watershed moment for Prime Video Sports. After bu...
28/05/2026
Hosted by ESPN Senior Writer Ryan McGee, the ceremony honored winners from athletic departments, conference offices, professional networks, production companies...
28/05/2026
Major rights-holders rolled out their 2026 college football slates today, offering a first look at marquee windows, kickoff partners, and conference distributio...
28/05/2026
The 4 Nations Face-Off, an international competition that launched in February 2...
28/05/2026
Soccer is a truly global sport, and, to match the U.S. viewing audience's in...
28/05/2026
The NFL Today, CBS Sports' top-of-the-line NFL studio show, has a storied hi...
28/05/2026
Prime Video is no stranger to innovation, and, within the realm of live streamin...