Blind and Visually Impaired Community
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Engineering Student Trying to make an Assistive device for Visually Impaired for Smartphones (self.Blind)
submitted by ubc_eng_student
As part of a team of engineering students from the University of British Columbia, we are looking to develop technological solutions to improve the quality of life for the visually impaired. What devices do you currently use right now to navigate your surroundings? Does it work well or do you have issues with it? Right now we are looking at ways to use a smartphone to map your surroundings and give you feedback about proximity using some-kind of touch based feedback
If you are keen on chatting with me more about this and your experiences please let me know or PM me! We would love to glean your feedback on ways to create an assistive device that could help you navigate your surroundings better.
As an intro to our team and purpose, we have experience in software, mechanical, and electrical engineering, and we aim to develop impactful solutions for the visually impaired as part of our project course called New Venture Design.
If you are keen on chatting with me more about this and your experiences please let me know or PM me! We would love to glean your feedback on ways to create an assistive device that could help you navigate your surroundings better.
As an intro to our team and purpose, we have experience in software, mechanical, and electrical engineering, and we aim to develop impactful solutions for the visually impaired as part of our project course called New Venture Design.
KillerLag 2 points 2y ago
O&M instructor here (from Ontario).
When you say "map your surroundings", how large of a range are you talking about? And how much detail?
Microsoft Soundscape (an app) can describe some details of landmarks and such around you. Aira (another app) can connect to a paid agent that can use the camera to look around to help look for things.
A white cane can tell a lot regarding texture of the floor, where the grass is, where curbs and slopes are. But that does require more practice to get used to the feedback.
When you say "map your surroundings", how large of a range are you talking about? And how much detail?
Microsoft Soundscape (an app) can describe some details of landmarks and such around you. Aira (another app) can connect to a paid agent that can use the camera to look around to help look for things.
A white cane can tell a lot regarding texture of the floor, where the grass is, where curbs and slopes are. But that does require more practice to get used to the feedback.
ubc_eng_student [OP] 1 points 2y ago
Hello! Thank you so much for replying.
So currently we aren't too sure what this might look like, but at the beginning we are thinking about using a liDAR sensor that ranges about 16 feet (5meters). The first initial idea is to pair this sensor with pressure on the hands. We are thinking it would probably be useful for indoor spaces or crowed areas where the cane might be more of a hassle to use. Do you know if people would want to move away from the canes if they could? Is there cases where the cane is inconvenient to use?
It is still early stages though, things could definitely change pending on need.
So currently we aren't too sure what this might look like, but at the beginning we are thinking about using a liDAR sensor that ranges about 16 feet (5meters). The first initial idea is to pair this sensor with pressure on the hands. We are thinking it would probably be useful for indoor spaces or crowed areas where the cane might be more of a hassle to use. Do you know if people would want to move away from the canes if they could? Is there cases where the cane is inconvenient to use?
It is still early stages though, things could definitely change pending on need.
KillerLag 1 points 2y ago
Before moving away from a cane, you need a sensor that can reliably replace it, and inform the user of the necessary information.
They've experimented with using laser sensors and ultrasonic sensors, but the two big problems were inability to reliably detect drop-offs (steps down, stairs, holes) and inability to reliably detect something that is mostly open space, but not (for example, a chainlink fence, or the legs of a table).
I know lots of people who would like to move away from a cane, but in addition to the sensor issue, the other role of a cane is to inform others that a person has vision loss. It helps to tell people that the person with the cane can't see very well.
They've experimented with using laser sensors and ultrasonic sensors, but the two big problems were inability to reliably detect drop-offs (steps down, stairs, holes) and inability to reliably detect something that is mostly open space, but not (for example, a chainlink fence, or the legs of a table).
I know lots of people who would like to move away from a cane, but in addition to the sensor issue, the other role of a cane is to inform others that a person has vision loss. It helps to tell people that the person with the cane can't see very well.
noaimpara 1 points 2y ago
I use a cane, the map app on my phone and my airpods. It’s honestly a great combo, I just walk until my airpods tell me to make a turn. It works like 90% of the times. But I do live in a very big and accessible city so that might not work as well for folks in smaller areas. The 10% when it doesn’t work is usually because the path is a little weird and not as obvious as "turn right" or "turn left" or because there is construction and the map is not up to date with that.
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