This article deals with a human–machine cooperative system for the control of a smart wheelchair for people with motor disabilities. The choice of a traded control mode is first argued. The paper then pursues two objectives. The first is to describe the design of the cooperative system by focusing on the dialogue and the interaction between the pilot and the robot. The second objective is to introduce a new cooperative mode. In this one, three features are proposed: two semi-autonomous features, a wall following and a doorway crossing, during which the user can intervene punctually to rectify a trajectory or a path, and an assisted mode where, conversely, the machine intervenes in a manual control to avoid obstacles. This mode of intervention of an entity, human or machine, supervising a movement controlled by the other is referred as “combined control.” Examples of scenarios exploiting the cooperative capabilities of the system are presented and discussed.

This paper deals with the perception mode of smart wheelchairs. First we evoke the many mobility aid prototypes developed in rehabilitation robotics by considering the point of view of perception. Then we describe the localization mode of the VAHM**. We show how the odometric, ultrasound, and vision sensors are used in a complementary way in order to locate the wheelchair in its known environment. The mode of adjustment of the odometric position by the least-squared method using ultrasonic measurements is detailed. Then the use of vision to perceive the vertical segments of the environment so as to refine the orientation is presented. The results of the tests carried out on the wheelchair are given and commented.