Smart walking cane for the visually challenged

Abstract

Traditionally, visually challenged individuals employ the white cane to aid their mobility outdoors, which provides very limited utility. In order to improve the safety of visually challenged users and enhance their awareness of their surroundings while navigating in outdoor environments, a smart device is needed. In this paper, a smart walking cane for the visually challenged has been presented. The proposed device can detect obstacles as well as terrain changes in the user's path. A conventional walking cane forms the main frame of the device, upon which ultrasonic sensors are mounted at appropriate locations to detect obstacles, steps and pits in the path of the user. Additionally, a provision to indicate the presence of puddles and slippery surfaces in the user's path has also been included in the device. The presence of these obstacles is notified to the user by the means of voice recordings played via earphones or through haptic feedback, provided using vibration motors placed on the hand support of the stick. The smart walking cane further employs GPS and GSM modules which can be used to send a distress signal to the user's kin along with the user's location upon being activated by a simple press of a button. The device is lightweight and is powered by a rechargeable battery. The overall design of the device ensures accuracy, energy efficiency and easy portability.