Abstract
We are proposing a robotic wheelchair that enables a wheelchair bound person to climb over steps up to about 8cm in height without assistance from others. By using the proposed robotic wheelchair, a user can maintain inverse pendulum control after raising its front wheels. Then, a user can move forward to the step maintaining the inverse pendulum control, and can climb over the step using motor force of a rear wheel shaft. This paper described the control system designs and simulations of the inverse pendulum control. An observer based optimal control (LQG or H2) with an integral action is discussed in order to obtain better control performances for the inverse pendulum control.