Blind Walking Research Articles

Visual Perceptual Confidence: Exploring Discrepancies Between Self-reported and Actual Distance Perception In Virtual Reality.

Virtual Reality (VR) systems are widely used, and it is essential to know if spatial perception in virtual environments (VEs) is similar to reality. Research indicates that users tend to underestimate distances in VR. Prior work suggests that actual distance judgments in VR may not always match the users self-reported preference of where they think they most accurately estimated distances. However, no explicit investigation evaluated whether user preferences match actual performance in a spatial judgment task. We used blind walking to explore potential dissimilarities between actual distance estimates and user-selected preferences of visual complexities, VE conditions, and targets. Our findings show a gap between user preferences and actual performance when visual complexities were varied, which has implications for better visual perception understanding, VR applications design, and research in spatial perception, indicating the need to calibrate and align user preferences and true spatial perception abilities in VR.

The allocentric nature of ground-surface representation: A study of depth and location perception

When observers perceive 3D relations, they represent depth and spatial locations with the ground as a reference. This frame of reference could be egocentric, that is, moving with the observer, or allocentric, that is, remaining stationary and independent of the moving observer. We tested whether the representation of relative depth and of spatial location took an egocentric or allocentric frame of reference in three experiments, using a blind walking task. In Experiments 1 and 2, participants either observed a target in depth, and then straightaway blind walked for the previously seen distance between the target and the self; or walked to the side or along an oblique path for 3 m and then started blind walking for the previously seen distance. The difference between the conditions was whether blind walking started from the observation point. Results showed that blind walking distance varied with the starting locations. Thus, the represented distance did not seem to go through spatial updating with the moving observer and the frame of reference was likely allocentric. In Experiment 3, participants observed a target in space, then immediately blind walked to the target, or blind walked to another starting point and then blind walked to the target. Results showed that the end location of blind walking was different for different starting points, which suggested the representation of spatial location is likely to take an allocentric frame of reference. Taken together, these experiments convergingly suggested that observers used an allocentric frame of reference to construct their mental space representation.

SMART CANE WITH OBSTACLES DETECTION

The project describes ultrasonic blind walking stick with the use of Arduino. According to World Health Organisation, 30 million peoples are permanently blind and 285 billion peoples with vision impairment. If u notice them, you can very well know about it they can’t walk without the help of other. One has to ask guidance to reach their destination. They have to face more struggles in their life daily life. Using this blind stick, a person can walk more confidently. This stick detects the object in front of the person and give response to the user by vibrating. So, the person can walk without any fear. This device will be best solution to overcome their difficulties. Generally, blind people use a traditional cane (known as white cane) for moving from one place to another. Activities like walking down the road, knowing and recognizing the presence of an obstacle in front of them, reading road signs etc. We represent a model of walking stick for blind people. This consists of GPS module, GPS Antenna, Arduino, ultrasonic sensor and buzzer. This stick can detect place and obstacles. The system employs a point-by-point approach to analyze the surrounding environment, providing real-time feedback to the user. Blind people consists of a large group of people in our society. Losing their eyesight has caused them inconvenience in performing daily tasks. Hence, smart cane had been developed in order to increase the life quality of a blind person. The purpose of this project is to design a smart cane with ultrasonic sensor and global system for mobile (GSM) for the blind. This embedded system mainly has mobility. For mobility system, it is equipped with ultrasonic sensor, HCSR04 and vibrating motor. Ultrasonic sensor will send the trigger pulse to detect obstacles. When an obstacle is detected, signals will be sent to vibrating motor and activate it. The vibrating motor will vibrate with different strengths according to the distance of the obstacle. The microcontroller used in this embedded system is Arduino UNO. The prototype of smart cane was built to increase the mobility of the blind people. Keywords— Signal processing, Internet of things, Ultrasonic sensor, visual impaired people

GPS-Enabled Blind Stick Using Ultrasonic Technology

This paper presents a GPS tracking system for an ultrasonic blind stick. People with visual impairments have historically used sticks to detect obstructions in their path. But the person using this stick has to deal with a number of issues because it is inefficient in a number of ways. Giving visually challenged people a better navigational aid is the aim of this initiative. Thanks to the use of sensors, object recognition is made easier with the ultrasonic blind walking stick than with the regular walking stick. The data on his present location is provided by his GPS system.In the event that the blind person loses track of where they put their stick, the system has an additional sophisticated tool to assist them. Blind Stick the ultrasonic blind stick with GPS tracking device is described in the paper’s abstract. Historically, those who are blind or visually challenged have utilized a stick to detect obstructions in their path. However, there are a number of inefficiencies with this stick, and the user must deal with a number of issues. Better navigational aids for the blind and visually handicapped are the aim of this study. Because it uses sensors to facilitate object identification, the ultrasonic blind walking stick is far more sophisticated than the conventional walking stick. Information about his present location is provided by his GPS system. One other cutting-edge feature built into the system will assist blind people in finding their stick in the event that they misplace it.

Analysis of veering during gait in blind individuals

BackgroundVeering occurs during blind walking, which causes individuals to deviate from crosswalks or fall off platforms. Despite being linked to static postural control, the relationship between veering and gait function (gait variability and plantar pressure), which is presumed to be related to dynamic postural control, has yet to be fully understood. Research questionHow do gait variability and plantar pressure affect veering? MethodsThis experiment involved a walking task in which 11 blind adults were instructed to walk along a straight path using a white cane. We measured the veering values and analyzed the relationship between gait variability and plantar pressure. ResultsOne participant with a particularly severe veering tendency was excluded from the analysis. Based on the veering characteristics of the participants, the walking trajectories were classified as veering to the left (14 trials) or the right (14 trials) sides. Correlation analysis showed no significant correlation between the veering value and gait variability (vertical, lateral, and anterior-posterior). Plantar pressure (the ball of the fifth toe and the total) was significantly negatively correlate with the veering value. In contrast, the plantar pressure results for the participant who was excluded showed a different characteristic. SignificanceWe hypothesized that blind individuals would exhibit dynamic postural control to stay on a straight path by increasing the plantar pressure on the ball of the fifth toe and the total pressure on the opposite foot when veering occurs. However, this adaptation was not observed in a blind individual with severe veering tendencies.

A Soft Actor-Critic Approach for a Blind Walking Hexapod Robot with Obstacle Avoidance

This paper investigates a path planning approach for the walking and obstacle avoidance of a blind hexapod robot in various field conditions. Hexapod robots often perform field tasks in unstructured environments, and their external sensors are affected by weather and light. This paper proposes the use of internal sensors to sense the terrain and a slightly modified soft actor-critic algorithm to train the motion strategy. A hexapod robot is capable of walking smoothly on rough ground only using internal sensors that are not affected by weather factors, and the soft actor-critic approach is superior for overcoming high-dimensional issues for multi-degree-freedom robot motion in unstructured environments.The experiments showed that the hexapod robot not only traversed rugged terrain at a fixed speed but also possessed obstacle avoidance capabilities.

Monocular information for perceiving large egocentric distance: A comparison between monocularly blind patients and normally sighted observers

The debate surrounding the advantages of binocular versus monocular vision has persisted for decades. This study aimed to investigate whether individuals with monocular vision loss could accurately and precisely perceive large egocentric distances in real-world environments, under natural viewing conditions, comparable to those with normal vision. A total of 49 participants took part in the study, divided into three groups based on their viewing conditions. Two experiments were conducted to assess the accuracy and precision of estimating egocentric distances to visual targets and the coordination of actions during blind walking. In Experiment 1, participants were positioned in both a hallway and a large open field, tasked with judging the midpoint of self-to-target distances spanning from 5 to 30 m. Experiment 2 involved a blind walking task, where participants attempted to walk towards the same targets without visual or environmental feedback at an unusually rapid pace. The findings revealed that perceptual accuracy and precision were primarily influenced by the environmental context, motion condition, and target distance, rather than the visual conditions. Surprisingly, individuals with monocular vision loss demonstrated comparable accuracy and precision in perceiving egocentric distances to that of individuals with normal vision.

Methods for measuring egocentric distance perception in visual modality.

Egocentric distance perception has been widely concerned by researchers in the field of spatial perception due to its significance in daily life. The frame of perception involves the perceived distance from an observer to an object. Over the years, researchers have been searching for an optimal way to measure the perceived distance and their contribution constitutes a critical aspect of the field. This paper summarizes the methodological findings and divides the measurement methods for egocentric distance perception into three categories according to the behavior types. The first is Perceptional Method, including successive equal-appearing intervals of distance judgment measurement, verbal report, and perceptual distance matching task. The second is Directed Action Method, including blind walking, blind-walking gesturing, blindfolded throwing, and blind rope pulling. The last one is Indirect Action Method, including triangulation-by-pointing and triangulation-by-walking. In the meantime, we summarize each method's procedure, core logic, scope of application, advantages, and disadvantages. In the end, we discuss the future concerns of egocentric distance perception.

Smart Stick for Blind People

Ever heard of Hugh Herr? Hugh Herr's legs were amputated below his knees in 1982 after a climbing accident. From his knees down to the floor, he's completely artificial. . Hugh Herr once said “We're beginning the age in which machines attached to our bodies will make us stronger and more efficient.”. These were not just words but he lived his life to them, today he uses Prosthetic legs and claims to live to normal life. So yes, technology can indeed neutralize human disability; with this in mind let us use some simple development boards and sensors to build an ultrasonic blind walking stick using Arduino that could perform more than just a stick for visually impaired persons. This Smart stick will have an Ultrasonic sensor to sense distance from any obstacle. All outputs will be obtained through Buzzer module and vibration motor to alert Blind person.

Smart White Cane

Abstract: In this paper, I describe my own model of an ultrasonic blind walking stick with the use of Arduino that helps the visually impaired walk independently. According to the World Health Organization, 30 million people are completely blind, with 285 billion people suffering from vision impairment.[1] If u notice them, you can very well know about they can’t walk without the help of others. One has to ask for guidance to travel without hitting on an obstacle. A person can walk more confidently with this blind stick. This stick detects the object in front of the user and responds by vibrating or issuing a sound command to the user. As a result, the person can walk without stress. This device will be the best solution to overcome their either indoor or outdoor as its ranges can be adjusted from 2 feet to 8 feet distance using a switch. Keywords: Accuracy, Actuators, Handy, Ultrasonic sensor

Acupuncture improves chemotherapy-induced neuropathy explored by neurophysiological and clinical outcomes – The randomized, controlled, cross-over ACUCIN trial

BackgroundChemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy (CIPN) is recognized as the second commonest side effect after chemotherapy. Besides neurological deficits and pain, it is a potential reason for terminating chemotherapy. Effective curative treatments of neurodegeneration are lacking. Hitherto, no randomized controlled study used nerve conduction studies (NCS), the gold standard diagnostic tool for peripheral neuropathy, as the primary outcome parameter for evaluating acupuncture for CIPN, which can also measure structural changes. MethodsThe study was carried out at the HanseMerkur Center for TCM at the University Medical Center, Hamburg-Eppendorf. Sixty patients with CIPN were included in the study after physical examination, subjective evaluation and quantitative evaluation by NCS. Subsequently, the patients were randomly assigned to Group 1 (30 patients), which received, in the first period, needle acupuncture and to Group 2 (30 patients), which was assigned to the waiting list in the first period. Group 1 received a standard 10-week bilateral treatment of ST34 (Liangqiu), EX–LE12 (Qiduan) and EX–LE8 (Bafeng). After 14 weeks, both groups were re-evaluated. Using a cross-over design, the patients of Group 2 received the same treatment procedure as Group 1 in the first period. Patients of Group 1 were assigned to the waiting list for the second period. After 28 weeks both groups were re-evaluated. Wilcoxon test was used as a pre-test to rule out carryover effects and to test for differences between acupuncture and the waiting list. Group assignment was not exposed to the statistician and the neurologist. ResultsSural sensory nerve amplitude, and sural nerve conduction velocity, were significantly improved (p < 0.01, effect size (f) 0.55 and 0.49) compared to measurements in the waiting period. Change of NCS of the tibial nerve did not significantly differ in group comparison. Patients reported subjective improvement during acupuncture treatment superior to the waiting period for burning pain, cramps, numbness, frequency of symptoms (all p < 0.01) and unsteadiness of gait (p < 0.05). On physical examination, blind walking, heel-to-toe walking, distal pallhypesthesia (both p < 0.01), and the neuropathy deficit score (p < 0.05) were significantly improved during acupuncture treatment compared to the waiting period. ConclusionAcupuncture can enhance structural regeneration in CIPN as measured by NCS, which is manifested in subjective improvement and neurological findings.

Blind Stick Using Ultrasonic Sensor with Voice Announcement

Abstract: Traditionally visually impaired people used a stick to find out if any obstacles are present in front of them. The ultrasonic blind walking stick is way more advanced than the traditional walking stick as the use of sensors makes object detection easier. The system has one more advanced feature integrated to help the blind find their stick if they forget where they kept it. A wireless RF based remote is used for finding the lost stick by pressing the remote button and buzzer sounds on stick. Thus this system allows for obstacle detection as well as finding stick if misplaced by visually disabled person. The another feature of this stick is to detect water on the ground. This stick also indicate day or night vision for blind person. This project discuss about how this stick is built and how it will help blind people.

Design and development of a smart blind walking stick using machine learning

Visually impaired people are often subjugated under extreme circumstances even in their day-to-day life. The daily requirements of a common man appear to be an impediment in their routine life. Simplest of tasks like walking, eating, bathing, conversing and even eating is of utmost difficulty to them. Moreover, with such difficulties their only way-out seems to be dependency on the privileged lot, which further diminishes their confidence in themselves and gradually makes them even more dependent. The conventional devices that are used by visually impaired people include basic walking sticks which fail at the job in hand by not providing adequate stabilisation on rough surfaces and misguiding the users into unfavourable conditions. There is no way for the person to know what the object in front of them is without hitting it with the stick, which could also lead to accidents. To solve these problems, a smart walking stick is developed which not only recognises the object in front of it using Machine Learning (ML) models, but also gives a voice output to alert its user about the particular object thereby limiting the chance of any and all accidents. The concept is realised in hardware and integrated to the walking stick. This helps in stabilisation of phone and to produce better results in object identification. Further an application is developed to alert the user by converting the obtained image into a voice messages.

Smart Blind Stick

The project describes ultrasonic blind walking stick with the use of Arduino uno. According to World Health Organization (WHO), 30 million people are permanently blind and 2.85 million people with vision impairment. If you notice them, you can very well know about it they can’t walk without the help of other. One has to ask guidance to reach their destination. They have to face more struggles in their life daily life. Using this blind stick, a person can walk more confidently. This stick detects the object in front of the person and give response to the user either by vibrating or through command. So, the person can walk without any fear. This device will be best solution to overcome their difficulties. We are going to upgrade the project by increasing its application. In this project, we are going to use one ultrasonic sensors. So now, this smart stick will have an ultrasonic sensor to sense distance from any obstacle.

Distance Perception in the Oculus Quest and Oculus Quest 2

Distances in virtual environments (VEs) viewed on a head-mounted display (HMD) are typically underperceived relative to the intended distance. This paper presents an experiment comparing perceived egocentric distance in a real environment with that in a matched VE presented in the Oculus Quest and Oculus Quest 2. Participants made verbal judgments and blind walking judgments to an object on the ground. Both the Quest and Quest 2 produced underperception. Verbal judgments in the VE were 82% and 75% of the object distance, in contrast with real world judgments that were 94% of the object distance. Blind walking judgments were 68% and 70% of object distance in the Quest and Quest 2, respectively, compared to 88% in the real world. This project shows that significant underperception of distance persists even in modern HMDs.

Vision-Guided Six-Legged Walking of Little Crabster Using a Kinect Sensor

A conventional blind walking algorithm has low walking stability on uneven terrain because a robot cannot rapidly respond to height changes of the ground due to limited information from foot force sensors. In order to cope with rough terrain, it is essential to obtain 3D ground information. Therefore, this paper proposes a vision-guided six-legged walking algorithm for stable walking on uneven terrain. We obtained noise-filtered 3D ground information by using a Kinect sensor and experimentally derived coordinate transformation information between the Kinect sensor and robot body. While generating landing positions of the six feet from the predefined walking parameters, the proposed algorithm modifies the landing positions in terms of reliability and safety using the obtained 3D ground information. For continuous walking, we also propose a ground merging algorithm and successfully validate the performance of the proposed algorithms through walking experiments on a treadmill with obstacles.

Visually directed action.

When people throw or walk to targets in front of them without visual feedback, they often respond short. With feedback, responses rapidly become approximately accurate. To understand this, an experiment is performed with four stages. 1) The errors in blind walking and blind throwing are measured in a virtual environment in light and dark cue conditions. 2) Error feedback is introduced and the resulting learning measured. 3) Transfer to the other response is then measured. 4) Finally, responses to the perceived distances of the targets are measured. There is large initial under-responding. Feedback rapidly makes responses almost accurate. Throw training transfers completely to walking. Walk training produces a small effect on throwing. Under instructions to respond to perceived distances, under-responding recurs. The phenomena are well described by a model in which the relation between target distance and response distance is determined by a sequence of a perceptual, a cognitive, and a motor transform. Walk learning is primarily motor; throw learning is cognitive.

Effects of Visual Cues on Distance Perception in Virtual Environments Based on Object Identification and Visually Guided Action

ABSTRACT In perceiving a virtual environment (VE), distance perception is important in that it affects users’ behaviors and interactions. This study addresses an on-going issue of virtual reality (VR), distance underestimation within a VE. For this purpose, a 2x2x2x5 mixed design was used with two between-subject variables [visual cue for perception (provided and non-provided) and visual cue for action (provided and non-provided)] and two within-subject variables [response measure (verbal estimation and triangulated blind walking) and distance (1 m, 5 m, 10 m, 20 m, and 35 m)]. Sixty-four undergraduate or graduate students participated in the experiment, and a cube was chosen as the target object. The experimental results showed that visual cues for action mitigated distance underestimation and improved the accuracy of perceived distances. In general, distance underestimation was more obvious in the triangulated blind walking than the verbal estimation, and in the action/vista space than personal space, with relatively lower accuracies. Meanwhile, when visual cue for action were provided, the degree of underestimation decreased significantly with higher accuracy particularly in the triangulated blind walking. Although overestimation was found across all the distances in the verbal estimation, overestimation was found only for the personal distance, and underestimation was found for the action/vista distances in the triangulated blind walking. In both response measures, the accuracy of distance perceptions were the worst in the 10 m condition. These findings can be expected to provide insight into the problem of distance underestimation and can help guide design of VEs.

Transfer of Calibration in Virtual Reality to both Real and Virtual Environments

It is often questioned whether task performance attained in a virtual environment can be transferred appropriately and accurately to the same task in the real world. With advancements in virtual reality (VR) technology, recent research has focused on individuals’ abilities to transfer calibration achieved in a virtual environment to a real-world environment. Little research, however, has shown whether transfer of calibration from a virtual environment to the real world is similar to transfer of calibration from a virtual environment to another virtual environment. As such, the present study investigated differences in calibration transfer to real-world and virtual environments. In either a real-world or virtual environment, participants completed blind walking estimates before and after experiencing perturbed virtual optic flow via a head-mounted virtual display (HMD). Results showed that individuals calibrated to perturbed virtual optic flow and that this calibration carried over to both real-world and virtual environments in a like manner.

Blind-Walking Behavior in the Dark Affected by Previewing the Testing Space.

Visual environments affect egocentric distance perceptions in full cue conditions. In this study, the effect of three spatial layouts was tested on the perceived location of a self-illuminated single target viewed in the dark. Blind-walking (BW) estimates of target distance were underestimated in all testing spaces, as expected, but foreshortened significantly more in the shortest of the three testing rooms. Additional experiments revealed that neither changes in the perceived angle of declination nor perceived eye height were responsible for this effect. The possibility that subjects made cognitive adjustments to BW behavior to reduce physical risk was assessed by remeasuring target locations in the three different locations with magnitude estimation and by comparing the BW results obtained from subjects who had no preview of the testing space with those who had. The results support the conclusion that the effect of spatial layout is likely due to cognitive adjustments to BW behavior. The results also indicate that the perceived angle of declination is always overestimated by at least a factor of 1.5. These results can be interpreted within the context of a theory of space perception called the angular expansion theory (AET).