ABSTRACT

India has the highest population of blind people with the number of affected being more than 10 million. Based on interviews with the visually impaired, we found that the blind face difficulties in routine tasks like navigation and commuting. The project is motivated by the need to build an aid which will use a sensor-based system that intimates the user of stationary obstacles such as walls, steps, bumps, staircases, steps and potholes.

Description
India has the highest population of blind people with the number of affected being more than 10 million. Based on interviews with the visually impaired, we found that the blind face difficulties in routine tasks like navigation and commuting. There is undoubtedly an inherent gap in terms of available and affordable technology for the visually impaired. The project is motivated by the need to build an aid which will use a sensor-based system that intimates the user of stationary obstacles such as walls, steps, bumps, staircases, steps and potholes. This research is driven by the following observations on existing solutions: (a) Either expensive or restrictive for major commonly occurring obstacles such as wall and potholes, (b) Identification of objects tends to be less sensitive towards type of obstacles, (c) Inability to let the user fully distinguish between hazardous objects such as a staircase which the user needs to use and those which are to be avoided.

Potential Contribution: (a) To reduce the possibility of hazards for the visually impaired while maintaining user’s direction of motion, (b) Devising a new algorithm that can be implemented in an affordable embedded system. This is inspired by the natural human response of perceiving an obstacle and avoiding it.

Other Members: Rishabh Shah 

Keywords: Mechatronics, Control Systems - Automation and Robotics