A Lahore University of Management Sciences’ (LUMS) student has developed a voice-controlled electric wheelchair that can be operated through a smartphone application.
Faaiz Arbab, a graduate of electrical engineering program from LUMS, is the inventor of this voice-operated smart wheelchair. He has named it ‘GOBEE’. Faaiz developed this wheelchair in collaboration with the National Incubation Center (NIC) Lahore and AYEco.
How Does it Operate?
The smartphone application for the wheelchair has a ‘Call N Go’ feature. According to the NIC Lahore official website, the user can summon the wheelchair from a distance of 15 kilometers.
The wheelchair responds to the voice commands of the user, being able to turn left or right and move forward or backward.
Arbab said he had the project in mind when he was in the early years of his university. He started working on it a few years ago but did not feel it was ready for use and needed more work. That was when he decided to submit it to the NIC Lahore homed at LUMS, which then provided him with the right environment and support to complete his masterpiece.
Key Features
Some of the key features of Gobee are given below:
- Equipped with Bluetooth and Wi-Fi facilities.
- Remote control operation facility that goes up to 100 feet.
- Water-resistant
- Anti-sweat seat
- Long-life battery power with two batteries of 18Ah each
- Drive power up to 40km per charge
- Bright LED lights for active maneuvering at night
- Emergency stop and call button
PTI MNA Asad Umar shared a video on his Twitter, lauding Arbab’s efforts.
“This is just the kind of work that needs to be projected,” Asad captioned his tweet.
Innovative work like this voice activated wheel chair by AYECo. This is just the kind of work that needs to be projected pic.twitter.com/Q4DqauXz0U
— Asad Umar (@Asad_Umar) September 22, 2019
Talking about his invention, Faaiz Arbab said that he always wanted to build something which makes the handicaps independent, and Gobee does precisely that.
He said that it was one of the world’s first voice-operated smart wheelchairs equipped with Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and various other options.
He said:
Ever since the product has been launched, we have received multiple orders from the Pakistan Army, Navy and several international NGOs.
Simply appreciation would bring results. Support and Encourage these students to commercialize it through funding from Venture Capital. The students can get funding from VC from the US if they are able to prove that they could market it.
This is just a medium level project that is not seemingly very complicated to make so it cant be termed as an “Invention”.
Just use a readily available Speech to Text API in python send it to a raspberry Pi coupled with the movement controls of a wheelchair motor, whats new in that ?
Our so called leaders are again glorifying mediocrity without having any solid plan or direction for the development of Science and Technology in the country and our media again is creating unnecessary hype on it without researching the facts.
A much advanced wheelchair and eye-ball/eye-twitch controlled voice synthesizer was developer for Dr Hawking half a century ago.
Future plans for GOBEE include an IP Camera and Artificial Intelligence. Currently, Pakistan imports smart wheelchairs, and with the advent of a localised product to effectively cater to people’s needs, the market could really open up for GOBEE.
very good work . Pakistan needs this type of talented people to grow up.
I am a disabled girl from lahore i need help
Can it climb the stairs and come down,i have seen wheelchair advanced climbs stairs ,i too a disable from birth ,but use calipers ,and flexible moving God’s Grace,Cool