Title :
A remote guidance system for blind and visually impaired people via vibrotactile haptic feedback
Author :
Scheggi, Stefano ; Talarico, A. ; Prattichizzo, Domenico
Author_Institution :
Dept. of Inf. Eng. & Math., Univ. of Siena, Siena, Italy
Abstract :
Trained guide dogs and canes provide the visually impaired with the highest degree of independence; however, they are very limited in guiding the user towards a specific desired location, especially in an unknown environment. The assistance of other people represents a feasible solution, but it does not improve the idea of autonomous guidance and privacy. In this paper we present a remote guidance system which provides the visually impaired with haptic directional cues, useful for navigating in unknown environments. The blind user is equipped with a pair of camera glasses, two vibrotactile bracelets and a cane which is used to avoid potential obstacles. The video captured by the camera glasses is streamed to a remote operator who can properly navigate the impaired person by activating the vibrotactile stimulations. The proposed approach has been validated on a group of blind subjects in an indoor scenario. Results revealed the effectiveness of the proposed strategy for the guidance of visually impaired in unknown environments.
Keywords :
collision avoidance; handicapped aids; image sensors; video cameras; autonomous guidance; camera glasses; potential obstacle avoidance; remote guidance system; vibrotactile bracelets; vibrotactile haptic feedback; vibrotactile stimulations; visually impaired people; Assistive technology; Cameras; Glass; Haptic interfaces; Navigation; Streaming media; Vibrations;
Conference_Titel :
Control and Automation (MED), 2014 22nd Mediterranean Conference of
Conference_Location :
Palermo
Print_ISBN :
978-1-4799-5900-6
DOI :
10.1109/MED.2014.6961320