Sentinel: towards an ambient mobility network

Abstract

Purpose: We are concerned with aiding the mobility of visually impaired travellers around often complex and unfamiliar internal and urban environments. To do this we focus on a users interaction with ambient devices because these device types provide an easy entry point for visually impaired individuals to interact with their surroundings. By augmenting the physical environment with mobility focused ambient devices and making existing devices universally accessible our goal of easy, focused, and confident mobility can be achieved. Method: We identify, through paper reviews and studies of empirical and anecdotal evidence, the social and technical problems that have so far barred consistent and cohesive development of an ambient mobility-network. Results: We suggest that multi-model sensory-interaction with objects and assistive devices within an environment is the only way to accomplish easy, focused, and confident mobility for visually impaired travellers. We find that universal access to ambient devices does not exist when the user interface and the device functionality are conjoined. And we also suggest that this universal access will not occur if there are only benefits for one small minority user group. Conclusions: We conclude that to assist mobility we need to provide universal access to objects and devices within the environment. Also, to support the mobility of visually impaired travellers we must first support all travellers regardless of their mobility needs. And to accomplish this we must separate the user interface from the real purpose (the functionality) of the object/device.