A pre-journey system of the Robotic Travel Aid

We are developing the Robotic Travel Aid, the primary function of which is to guide the visually impaired in an outdoor environment. According to our investigation, the visually impaired feel fear and stress when they walk along an unknown route. In this paper, a pre-journey system helping the visually impaired acquire route information is proposed. The system generates route guidance message for the visually impaired based on the route information described in XML. By using a speech synthesis device and push button switches, the visually impaired can easily utilize this system to understand route information before setting out. From the results of our experiments, it is clear that the proposed system is useful and efficient for the visually impaired.