Abstract
People with visual impairment have increased difficulty in performing activities of daily living, such as walking without bumping into obstacles. Many assistive technologies are used to help with ambulation as one walks forward, such as a white walking cane or a service dog. These have proven to be of tremendous help, but the cane may miss suspended objects not touching the ground, and service dogs are not available to all who need them. Further assistive technologies continue to be developed and tested. In nature, those without visual acuity tend to obtain much information from their environment through the other senses, such as hearing or tactile touch. This study is exploring the mapping of obstacle detection to tactile vibration motors on the skin. Ultrasonic sensors were used to detect obstacles in the forward direction where the user would be walking, and calculate the distance. The distance was mapped to a vibration pattern, with the pattern being more intense for closer obstacles. A prototype was developed and had several tests run. Obstacle detection and distance were useful up to 3 m. The functional field of view was 10° to 30° from centerline, but became more narrow as the distance increased and for harder to detect obstacles. The distance was mapped to 3 different vibration patterns, and human subjects were able to distinguish the patterns in a consistent manner. The prototype shows promise, but more testing and development would be required toward widespread application.
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Dow, D.E., Robbins, J.J., Roberts, K.C., Bannish, S.G., Cote, B.J. (2023). Wearable Vibration Device to Assist with Ambulation for the Visually Impaired. In: Chen, Y., Yao, D., Nakano, T. (eds) Bio-inspired Information and Communications Technologies. BICT 2023. Lecture Notes of the Institute for Computer Sciences, Social Informatics and Telecommunications Engineering, vol 512. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-43135-7_22
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-43135-7_22
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