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Publication
Blind guide: anytime, anywhere
| Name: | Description: | Size: | Format: | |
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| 2.17 MB | Adobe PDF |
Authors
Advisor(s)
Abstract(s)
Sight dominates our mental life, more than any other sense. Even when we are just
thinking about something the world, we end imagining what looks like. This rich visual
experience is part of our lives. People need the vision for two complementary reasons. One
of them is vision give us the knowledge to recognize objects in real time. The other reason
is vision provides us the control one need to move around and interact with objects.
Eyesight helps people to avoid dangers and navigate in our world. Blind people
usually have enhanced accuracy and sensibility of their other natural senses to sense their
surroundings. But sometimes this is not enough because the human senses can be affected
by external sources of noise or disease. Without any foreign aid or device, sightless cannot
navigate in the world. Many assistive tools have been developed to help blind people.
White canes or guide dogs help blind in their navigation. Each device has their limitation.
White canes cannot detect head level obstacles, drop-offs, and obstructions over a meter
away. The training of a guide dog takes a long time, almost five years in some cases. The
sightless also needs training and is not a solution for everybody. Taking care of a guide
dog can be expensive and time consuming.
Humans have developed technology for helping us in every aspect of our lives. The
primary goal of technology is helping people to improve their quality of life. Technology
can assist us with our limitations. Wireless sensor networks is a technology that has been
used to help people with disabilities.
In this dissertation, the author proposes a system based on this technology called
Blind Guide. Blind Guide is an artifact that helps blind people to navigate in indoors or
outdoors scenarios. The prototype is portable assuring that can be used anytime and
anywhere. The system is composed of wireless sensors that can be used in different parts
of the body. The sensors detect an obstacle and inform the user with an audible warning
providing a safety walk to the users.
A great feature about Blind Guide is its modularity. The system can adapt to the
needs of the user and can be used in a combination with other solution. For example, Blind
Guide can be used in conjunction with the white cane. The white cane detects obstacles
below waist level and a Blind Guide wireless sensor in the forehead can detect obstacles at the head level. This feature is important because some sightless people feel uncomfortable
without the white cane.
The system is scalable giving us the opportunity to create a network of
interconnected Blind Guide users. This network can store the exact location and
description of the obstacles found by the users. This information is public for all users of
this system. This feature reduces the time required for obstacle detection and consequent
energy savings, thus increasing the autonomy of the solution.
One of the main requirements for the development of this prototype was to design a
low-cost solution that can be accessible for anyone around the world. All the components
of the solution can provide a low-cost solution, easily obtainable and at a low cost.
Technology makes our life easier and it must be available for anyone.
Modularity, portability, scalability, the possibility to work in conjunction with other
solutions, detecting objects that other solutions cannot, obstacle labeling, a network of
identified obstacles and audible warnings are the main aspects of the Blind Guide system.
All these aspects makes Blind Guide an anytime, anywhere solution for blind people.
Blind Guide was tested with a group of volunteers. The volunteers were sightless and
from different ages. The trials performed to the system show us positive results. The
system successfully detected incoming obstacles and informed in real time to its users. The
volunteers gave us a positive feedback telling that they felt comfortable using the prototype
and they believe that the system can help them with their daily routine.
Description
Keywords
Internet of things IoT Mobile technology Ambient assisted living Ultrasound Blind