Nigerian Student Builds ROS 2 Autonomous Wheelchair for Hospitals
A final-year engineering student is prototyping a self-navigating wheelchair using ROS 2 Jazzy.
Hariss Abdraman Tahir, a final-year Computer Engineering student at the University of Maiduguri, Nigeria, has introduced himself to the ROS community with an ambitious final-year project: a prototype automated navigation wheelchair for clinical environments. His system integrates ROS 2 Jazzy Jalisco with Nav2 for autonomous navigation, real-time obstacle avoidance, safety-critical design, and human-machine interaction. Hariss also has broader interests in drone development for agriculture and surveillance, computer vision, embedded systems, and simulation with Gazebo.
Community members offered practical advice. StefanFabian noted that colleagues previously built a wheelchair prototype using depth sensors and recommended using Foxglove Studio (formerly Webviz) with ROS 2 for rapid HMI development—specifically its live reload feature for faster UI prototyping. For production systems not requiring RViz, Qt6 was suggested. Another member pointed Hariss to the ROS Naija community on LinkedIn for local collaboration. This project highlights growing interest in accessible, intelligent mobility solutions from emerging robotics hubs.
- Project uses ROS 2 Jazzy, Nav2, and Gazebo for autonomous hospital wheelchair navigation.
- Community recommends Foxglove Studio for rapid HMI prototyping with live reload.
- Hariss is part of the growing ROS Naija community in Nigeria.
Why It Matters
Affordable autonomous wheelchairs could transform hospital logistics in resource-constrained settings, and this Nigerian project shows grassroots robotics innovation.