Abstract
Electronic mobility aid, transforms visual information to another sensory modality, has proved to be useful for visually impaired people to commute confidently and independently. With recent developments in technology, more visual information can be provided that can assist the user in the better way to avoid obstacles. The paper is focused on portable mobility aid prototype based on stereo imaging that can help user avoid collision with the obstacles. The algorithm is based on segmentation of disparity image to detect obstacles in each segment and identify probable path free of obstacles. The information about the free path is conveyed to the user with the help of two vibrotactile sensors. The prototype was tried on visually impaired users. The experiments were conducted in terms of detection of obstacles, avoidance of obstacles and walking speed of visually impaired user in closed area with different number of obstacles. We conclude that mobility aid prototype is potentially effective for visually impaired users.
Highlights
Vision impairment is often due to conditions such as diabetic retinopathy, muscular degeneration, and glaucoma
The visually impaired(VI) community is very diverse in terms of degree of vision loss, age, and abilities
The present work proposes a design of portable mobility aid based on computer vision (CV) that can help detect obstacles in front of the user, calculate probable path free of obstacles and help navigate the user to avoid collision with an obstacle
Summary
Vision impairment is often due to conditions such as diabetic retinopathy, muscular degeneration, and glaucoma. Electronic travel aids (ETA) have been designed for VI people which convert visual information into auditory or haptic feedback. Some ETAs only give indication of presence of obstacles and some along with detection of obstacles indicate a direction in which user should travel to travel to avoid the obstacle These devices typically use range sensors like ultrasound, sonar or stereo cameras. Some computer vision based ETAs like ENVS[7] , tactile vision system (TVS)[8] use stereo cameras for obstacle detection and vibrators for feedback. The present work proposes a design of portable mobility aid based on computer vision (CV) that can help detect obstacles in front of the user, calculate probable path free of obstacles and help navigate the user to avoid collision with an obstacle. Published By: Blue Eyes Intelligence Engineering and Sciences Publication (BEIESP)
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