Emergency help systems on the market today generally use a similar system:
1) The user is provided with a wearable "emergency" button, usually on a neck chain or wristband.
2) When the button is pressed, the system uses the home phone line connects with a central response centre, which attempts to contact the user and ascertain their status.
3) If contact is made, the appropriate course of action is determined and taken. If contact cannot be made, emergency services are alerted and dispatched to the home of the user.
Link or at http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/conline/pubs/services/pers.htm
Examples of emergency help systems:
Phillips Lifecare or at http://www.lifelinesys.com/content/how-lifeline-works/index.jsp
Redi-Safe or at http://www.redisafe.net/
This system would be inappropriate for our purposes, as the wheelchair is intended to provide mobility to people whose freedom would otherwise be limited.
Useful modifications to the system would include monitoring of the user's vital stats, both to provide useful information to the emergency services in case of contact, and to enable an automated emergency call in the case of the user falling unconscious without pressing the contact button.
Systems to determine a person's health remotely have been in development for some time, with a radar-based system similar to Star Trek's tricorder and "smart fabrics" being two possible options.
Radar system link or http://www.llnl.gov/str/pdfs/01_96.2.pdf and Smart fabrics link or http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/6460033.stm
To contact the emergency services whilst not at home, the phone functionality of the wheelchair could be combined with the built in GPS system to pinpoint the user's current location. Alternatively, wireless internet could be used to contact the emergency services and transmit the vital data, whilst triangulation based on signal strength could locate the user within the wireless zone.
Spread of wireless technology across Britain or at http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/4993038.stm
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