Abstract
Nineteen million Americans have significant vision loss. Over 70% of these are not employed full-time, and more than a quarter live below the poverty line. Globally, there are 36 million blind people, but less than half use white canes or more costly commercial sensory substitutions. The quality of life for visually impaired people is hampered by the resultant lack of independence. To help alleviate these challenges this study reports on the development of a low-cost, open-source ultrasound-based navigational support system in the form of a wearable bracelet to allow people with the lost vision to navigate, orient themselves in their surroundings and avoid obstacles when moving. The system can be largely made with digitally distributed manufacturing using low-cost 3-D printing/milling. It conveys point-distance information by utilizing the natural active sensing approach and modulates measurements into haptic feedback with various vibration patterns within the four-meter range. It does not require complex calibrations and training, consists of the small number of available and inexpensive components, and can be used as an independent addition to traditional tools. Sighted blindfolded participants successfully demonstrated the device for nine primary everyday navigation and guidance tasks including indoor and outdoor navigation and avoiding collisions with other pedestrians.
Highlights
According to the World Health Organization (WHO) [1,2], approximately 1.3 billion people live with some form of vision impairment, and 36 million of them are totally blind
The vast majority of the world’s blind population live in developing countries [3]. This challenge is falling on the elderly at an increasing rate, with the group of visually impaired people over 65 years of age growing with a per-decade increase of up to 2 million persons, which is faster than the overall population with visual impairments [3]
The U.S is aging: Americans 65 and older is projected to more than double from 46 million today to over 98 million by 2060, and their share of the total population will rise to nearly a quarter from 15% [4]
Summary
According to the World Health Organization (WHO) [1,2], approximately 1.3 billion people live with some form of vision impairment, and 36 million of them are totally blind. Tudor et al [40] use simple linear pulse width modulation dependency for both vibration motors Most of these projects allow to navigate within the distance range of 4 m, but suffer from drawbacks related to cost and complexity and accessibility to the world’s population of visually impaired poor people. A low-cost, open-source navigational support system using ultrasonic sensors is developed It utilizes one ultrasound sensor with one or two vibration motors (depend on the designed model) in a 3-D printed case to make the system compact and fixed on the wrist as a bracelet. (b) bypass several corners indoors, (c) walk through the staircase, (d) wall following, (e) detect the open door, (f) detect an obstacle on the street, (g) bypass an obstacle on the street, (h) avoid collisions with pedestrians, (i) interact with known objects
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