This repo holds code to control power-wheelchairs with R-Net electronics. I want people to spread the word and maybe even make cool stuff with it...
https://github.com/redragonx/can2RNET
Some electronic wheelchairs use the same signaling bus as cars do: the Controller Area Network (CAN). But they use a specialized commutation protocol like R-Net that leverages CAN BUS signaling. For example, a Quickie Rhythm chair uses R-Net electronics that we studied inside and out. And it turns out many other chairs use R-Net electronics as a standardized protocol. R-Net is also closed and proprietary, but we reverse engineered the protocol which will allow people to customize their chairs.
Power wheelchairs have become increasingly sophisticated both for increasing their capabilities and for connecting users to the world at large. Some include bluetooth functionality, which can be an easy way to attack chairs and modify them. It is time to teach people to understand how their chairs work, and show them the current status of software security on the chairs.
I'm in a power-wheelchair myself and I'm unable to speak verbally. So I have to communicate by other means such as typing what I want to people on my laptop and then they read off my messages from my screen. This doesn't always work though, especially whenever I'm with people and we are going somewhere. I have to stop moving to reply and a lot of the time this can cause people to be late somewhere because they were walking with me. I only have 1 functional arm to drive and talk with, even though I have two arms. Sometimes I have to choose if I want to talk or just listen to people when I'm with them. Some people don't like how I have to stop every 3 minutes so I could type for 30 seconds to a simple query. For example, they can ask a question like “How was your day?”, and depending the time and place I'm forced to give canned answers like “My day was alright, thanks” even if I'd like to say more to them. I want to do more things independently. I'm always limited by the medical technologies I always end up using.
I wanted change, I made my chair controllable over bluetooth. In the future, it will self drive.
I'd like to get help building a Wireshark plugin for R-Net. R-Net is based on canbus. See repo for details.
