Emilio Remolina
October 4, 2000
This document describes how to use the Wheelchair system (VULCAN). The system has two major components: a collection of servers that directly control the wheelchair as well as provide some other basic facilities, and a Rscheme interface for writing ``high-level'' commands.
The servers are implemented in C++ and communicate with Rscheme via a Distributed Object System developed at the robotics lab. These servers are:
Hereafter we present only the Rscheme end of the system. In Appendixes D and E we describe the servers above as well as the distributed object system.
The Rscheme end of the system provides a set of classes that allows one to communicate and control the wheelchair (the <wheelchair-client> class, Chapter 2) as well as to some common utilities for quick software developing (Chapter 3). These classes exist also for the Flat simulator1 allowing for a major portability between Flat and the Wheelchair system. In Appendix C we illustrate the main differences between Flat and the Wheelchair system.
Although as self contained as possible, this reference manual is by no means complete. It describes the major facilities available and gives pointers to where - in the source code - to look for more information. Various examples are provided illustrating the use of the different classes and functions in the system. Additional information can be found following the links provided at