An Astute Assistive Device for Mobility and Object Recognition for Visually Impaired People

Abstract

To provide autonomous navigation and orientation to visually impaired people, this article proposes a new electronic assistive device called the NavCane. The device helps people find obstacle-free paths in both indoor and outdoor settings. The NavCane also aids in the recognition of objects in an indoor setting. The advantage of the NavCane device is that it provides priority information about obstacles in the path without causing information overload. The priority information deduced by the system is transmitted to the user using tactile and auditory communication methods. Unlike existing electronic travel assistance systems which are limited to obstacle detection and path finding, the NavCane also helps users by recognizing objects in known indoor settings. The developed prototype is low cost and as a low power embedded device for obstacle detection and obstacle identification, it is an alternative to machine vision systems. It has a radio-frequency identification reader, ultrasonic sensors, a global system for mobile communication module, a global positioning system module, vibration motors, a gyroscope, a wet floor sensor, and a battery. To test the usefulness of the NavCane in mundane commuting, object recognition, and rehabilitation for visually impaired people, we assessed it with the help of 80 visually impaired people from a blind school and a home for elderly people. All the assessments were executed in controlled indoor and outdoor test environments with both a NavCane and a white cane. The experimental results show that the NavCane is an effective device for detecting of obstacles, ascending and descending staircases, navigating wet floors, and object recognition in environments that are known and unknown to the user. In addition, our evaluation results indicate that the NavCane improves the performance of obstacle-free navigation compared to a white cane.