Chailey Heritage School

The SCAD Assistive Mobility System 

The creation and development of guided and assistive mobility systems helps to provide an opportunity for children to reach specific goals with some independent mobility where conventional powered mobility systems would not have suited their needs. 

The SCAD (Sensing Collision Avoidance Detector) system has been developed to assist wheelchair drivers who may not be able to drive conventionally. The system can detect walls, doorways, corridors and objects that may block the path of travel. The SCAD system can guide the driver through doorways and reduce contact with objects and walls. The level of system support can be easily set to suit the needs of the driver. The system can accept operation by switches or proportional joystick.

The SCAD sensor system consists of a compact sensor head that is mounted between the front footrests.  This constantly scans ahead and to the side of the chair for objects in the path of travel at or near ground level. There are also supplementary detectors mounted over the drive wheels which can detect door frames and objects that may be to the side of the wheelchair.