Obstacle avoidance using haptics and a laser rangefinder

In its current form, the white cane has been used by visually impaired people for almost a century. It is one of the most basic yet useful navigation aids, mainly because of its simplicity and intuitive usage. For people who have a motion impairment in addition to a visual one, requiring a wheelchair or a walker, the white cane is impractical, leading to human assistance being a necessity. This paper presents the prototype of a virtual white cane using a laser rangefinder to scan the environment and a haptic interface to present this information to the user. Using the virtual white cane, the user is able to “poke” at obstacles several meters ahead and without physical contact with the obstacle. By using a haptic interface, the interaction is very similar to how a regular white cane is used. This paper also presents the results from an initial field trial conducted with six people with a visual impairment.