# SAATT Nav: a Socially Aware Autonomous Transparent Transportation Navigation Framework for Wheelchairs

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2603.13698 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2603.13698/

## Key facts

- No citing papers in the map yet (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- Builds on 6 of its 25 references that are in the map.
- First posted on arXiv 14 Mar 2026.

## Builds on (most cited first, 6 of 6)

- [Explanation in Artificial Intelligence: Insights from the Social Sciences](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1706.07269/) (2017)
- [The Effect of Sampling Temperature on Problem Solving in Large Language Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2402.05201/) (2024)
- [Exploring the Impact of Temperature on Large Language Models:Hot or Cold?](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2506.07295/) (2025)
- [The Sense of Agency in Assistive Robotics Using Shared Autonomy](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2501.07462/) (2025)
- [Modeling Others' Minds as Code](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2510.01272/) (2025)
- [Socially-Aware Shared Control Navigation for Assistive Mobile Robots in the Built Environment](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2405.17279/) (2024)

## Abstract (arXiv)

While powered wheelchairs reduce physical fatigue as opposed to manual wheelchairs for individuals with mobility impairment, they demand high cognitive workload due to information processing, decision making and motor coordination. Current autonomous systems lack social awareness in navigation and transparency in decision-making, leading to decreased perceived safety and trust from the user and others in context. This work proposes Socially Aware Autonomous Transparent Transportation (SAATT) Navigation framework for wheelchairs as a potential solution. By implementing a Large Language Model (LLM) informed of user intent and capable of predicting other peoples' intent as a decision-maker for its local controller, it is able to detect and navigate social situations, such as passing pedestrians or a pair conversing. Furthermore, the LLM textually communicates its reasoning at each waypoint for transparency. In this experiment, it is compared against a standard global planner, a representative competing social navigation model, and an Ablation study in three simulated environments varied by social levels in eight metrics categorized under Safety, Social Compliance, Efficiency, and Comfort. Overall, SAATT Nav outperforms in most social situations and equivalently or only slightly worse in the remaining metrics, demonstrating the potential of a socially aware and transparent autonomous navigation system to assist wheelchair users.