Blind and Visually Impaired Community
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Drones? (self.Blind)
submitted by smkelly
Okay, this may be a bit of an odd question. I have some vision, though not a ton. I recently got a toy drone (Tello) and have been having fun with it. It lacks any kind of obstacle avoidance system (besides down), so I've crashed it *a lot*.
Any partially sighted people around here gotten into drones? If so, what model(s) have you had success flying with limited vision? Some of the DJI Mavis look like they have pretty good obstacle avoidance, but I'm curious if anybody has any hands on experience while being visually impaired.
I want to have fun, but I also want to be safe about this.
Any partially sighted people around here gotten into drones? If so, what model(s) have you had success flying with limited vision? Some of the DJI Mavis look like they have pretty good obstacle avoidance, but I'm curious if anybody has any hands on experience while being visually impaired.
I want to have fun, but I also want to be safe about this.
akrazyho 3 points 1y ago
Wow very cool idea drones tend to be super loud even the small 6 inch toy drones so they would be a nuisance in public sound wise. In the somewhat far future maybe we can have a drone that just floats above our head roughly 50 feet and they can stream video directly to our visual cortex once we figure that part out which we are working on right now if we figured out how to do that we probably already have cameras that we can attach to our heads or eyes as a fake eye to stream to our visual cortex so that almost defeats the purpose of the drone but who knows you could probably use the drone for other things as well as far as a streaming device to your visual cortex.
SpektrumKid 1 points 1y ago
Visual cortex streaming wars.
B-dub31 2 points 1y ago
I got a drone a month before my vision loss. I flew it a couple times (it was winter). I've tried flying it a couple times since my vision loss and it is pretty much a no-go. My field of vision is just too small to keep up.
r_1235 2 points 1y ago
Not a sighted person, and also haven't played with any drone yet. Sorry if this seems offtopic.
But, seeing how many of them have obstacle detection, may be these can be utilized in helping blind people navigate in new places. Charging them would be headake, but, what if instead of canes, drones guide blind people around?
How those drones will interface with blind people, that might be the biggest challenge. May be some hapticks? Through a device which the user wears, drone will provide haptic feedback to the user, about obstacles in front.
In the show The Expance, the blind guy uses drones, to see things. Don't think we can directly comunicate the image from drone's camera to user's mind, but, providing audible or haptic feedback is very much capable with current tech.
It's just a thought experiment, flawed or unreasonible it may be.
But, seeing how many of them have obstacle detection, may be these can be utilized in helping blind people navigate in new places. Charging them would be headake, but, what if instead of canes, drones guide blind people around?
How those drones will interface with blind people, that might be the biggest challenge. May be some hapticks? Through a device which the user wears, drone will provide haptic feedback to the user, about obstacles in front.
In the show The Expance, the blind guy uses drones, to see things. Don't think we can directly comunicate the image from drone's camera to user's mind, but, providing audible or haptic feedback is very much capable with current tech.
It's just a thought experiment, flawed or unreasonible it may be.
smkelly [OP] 2 points 1y ago
While I was researching my original question above, I actually came across some research papers and studies on your topic. Guide drones for the blind has apparently been lightly researched in the last few years.
Altie-McAltface 2 points 1y ago
Drones aren’t as fun to scritch though.
SpektrumKid 2 points 1y ago
It's not very far off from what is depicted in Back To The Future II where they have drones walking dogs. This is just taking that logic to the next step. Drones to assist visually impaired people makes a lot of sense, once batteries get better and have more range.
Maybe a phone app utilizing LIDAR could be a good way to start.
Maybe a phone app utilizing LIDAR could be a good way to start.
[deleted] 1 points 1y ago
Sounds cool but not sure if and how it would work hahaha! Totally blind here but never really played with one. Sounds fun though.
blazblu82 1 points 1y ago
Might try finding a FPV drone setup that uses a headset or your phone. I was thinking of trying a FPV drone using my phone in VR goggles to block surrounding light.
This one from Amazon is 100 bucks, but is a complete kit: $1
This one from Amazon is 100 bucks, but is a complete kit: $1
Altie-McAltface 1 points 1y ago
I’ve been passively interested in drones for a bit. I could probably follow a video feed from one but couldn’t track one by eye.
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