Haptic handheld wayfinder with pseudo-attraction force for pedestrians with visual impairments

Abstract

When visually impaired pedestrians walk from one place to another by themselves, they must update their orientation and position to find their way and avoid obstacles and hazards. We present the design of a new haptic direction indicator, whose purpose is to help blind pedestrians travel a path and avoid hazards intuitively and safely by means of haptic navigation. The haptic direction indicator uses a novel kinesthetic perception method called the "pseudo-attraction force" technique, which exploits the nonlinear relationship between perceived and physical acceleration to generate a force sensation. In an experiment performed to evaluate with the haptic direction indicator, we found that visually impaired users could safely walk along a predefined route at their usual walking pace, independent of the existence of auditory information. These results demonstrate the utility and usability of the haptic direction indicator, but there is still room for improvement.