Portable environment detection system based on vibrotactile feedback

This paper presents a portable environment detection system based on dynamic vibrotactile feedback. A stereo image-acquisition module with two cameras is used in the system to obtain the information of obstacles in the environment, which is further provided to the user through sense of tactile. An actuator module with several motors is utilized to generate the desired vibrotactile feedback through encoded vibration mode. The whole system is developed with an ARM7-based microcontroller. Obstacle detection experiment in a simplified environment is carried out to validate the proposed system. The result showed that the system enhanced the visualization of the surrounding environment, and further improved user´s ability to interact with simple environment.