Indoor navigation with smart phone IMU for the visually impaired in university buildings

2016 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
pp. 133-139 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jesus Victor Zegarra Flores ◽  
Laurence Rasseneur ◽  
Rodrigue Galani ◽  
Fabienne Rakitic ◽  
René Farcy
Keyword(s):  
Visually Impaired ◽  
Smart Phone ◽  
Indoor Navigation ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Final Destination ◽  
The North ◽  
Visually Impaired People ◽  
Impaired People ◽  
Impaired Person ◽  
Partially Sighted

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to design and test effective indoor navigation solutions for visually impaired people in situations where GPS, bluetooth or Wi-Fi signals are unavailable. The authors use the inertial measurement units (IMU), the compass and the barometer of a smart phone. Design/methodology/approach The authors have used commercial Android smart phones with IMU, compass and barometer to record a path and to give navigation instructions in an adapted way using a mobility-specific vocabulary. The method proposed is to save paths taking into account different indoor waypoints such as the stairs (change from one floor to another) and the change of direction of the trajectory of the path (e.g. one-fourth turn right or left), recording data from the IMU sensor’s, compass and barometer of the smart phone. Having this information and the characteristics of the each segment (distance, azimuth to the north and pressure) of the path, it is possible to provide functional navigation guidance to the visually impaired subject. Three different visually impaired people (one partially sighted and two fully blind) and three sighted people have tested the paths. The efficiency of the navigation is analyzed in terms of distance and time using the comparison between blind and sighted people. Findings The main finding is that it is possible to guide visually impaired people some hundreds of meters just using the sensors of a smart phone under certain conditions: the visually impaired person has to understand the guidance instructions and respect some strategies (e.g. not to walk diagonally across vast spaces). Additionally it is observed that the visually impaired participants walked distances, which are not much different to the optimal values. On the other hand; because of their hesitations using their white cane to find free paths, they take in some cases 50 percent more time to arrive (for a few minutes path, this time is not critical and even more efficient than looking for a guide). One thing to highlight is that even with this hesitation, the subjects arrived to the final destination. Originality/value This paper demonstrates how an IMU coupled to a compass and a barometer from a Smart Phone employing a spoken mobility language (e.g. next corridor to the left; at the end of the stairs turn right, turn left, etc.) can guide visually impaired people inside buildings.

Ensuring accessibility of electronic information resources for visually impaired people

2014 ◽  
Vol 32 (2) ◽  
pp. 368-379 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stefanus Andreas Kleynhans ◽  
Ina Fourie
Keyword(s):  
Digital Libraries ◽  
Visually Impaired ◽  
Information Resources ◽  
Electronic Information ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Visually Impaired People ◽  
Electronic Information Resources ◽  
Impaired People ◽  
Partially Sighted ◽  
Selection Of

Purpose – The paper addresses the importance of clarifying terminology such as visually impaired and related terms before embarking on accessibility studies of electronic information resources in library contexts. Apart from briefly defining accessibility, the paper attempts to address the lack of in-depth definitions of terms such as visually impaired, blind, partially sighted, etc. that has been noted in the literature indexed by two major Library and Information Science (LIS) databases. The purpose of this paper is to offer a basis for selecting participants in studies of accessibility of electronic information resources in library contexts and to put discussions of such studies in context. Design/methodology/approach – Clarification of concepts concerning visual impairment following a literature survey based on searching two major databases in LIS. To put the discussion in context accessibility is also briefly defined. Findings – Although visually impaired and a variety of related terms such as blind, partially sighted, visually disabled, etc. are used in the LIS literature, hardly any attempt is made to define these terms in depth. This can be a serious limitation in web and electronic accessibility evaluations and the selection of participants. Practical implications – Clearly distinguishing between categories of visually impaired people and the ability of sight of participants is important when selecting participants for studies on accessibility for visually impaired people, e.g. the accessibility evaluation of web sites, digital libraries and other electronic information resources. Originality/value – The paper can make a contribution to the clarification of terminology essential for the selection of participants in accessibility studies, as well as enriching the literature on accessibility for visually impaired people in the context of LIS.

MAGIC-I as Assistance for the Visually Impaired People

2020 ◽  
Vol 13 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kavita Pandey ◽  
Dhiraj Pandey ◽  
Vatsalya Yadav ◽  
Shriya Vikhram
Keyword(s):  
Visually Impaired ◽  
Smart Phone ◽  
Emergency Situation ◽  
Daily Activities ◽  
Daily Life Activities ◽  
Best Friends ◽  
Visually Impaired People ◽  
The World ◽  
Impaired People ◽  
Impaired User

Background: According to the WHO report, around 4.07% of the world's population is visually impaired. About 90% of the visually impaired users live in the lower economic strata. In the fast moving technology, most of the invention misses the need of these people. Mainly the technologies were designed for mainstream people; visually impaired people always find an inability to access it. This inability arises primarily for reasons such as cost, for example, Perkins Brailler costs 80-248 dollars for the simple purpose of Braille input. Another major reason is the hassle of carrying the big equipment. Objective: Keeping all this in mind and making technology as their best friends, MAGIC-1 has been designed. The goal is to provide a solution in terms of an application, which helps the visually impaired user in their daily life activities. Method: The proposed solution assists visually impaired users through smart phone technology. If visually impaired users ever wished to have a touched guide into a smart phone, MAGIC-1 has the solution that consolidates all the important features in their daily activities. Results: The performance of the solution as a whole and its individual features in terms of usability, utility and other metrics, etc. has been tested with sample visually impaired users. Moreover, their performances in term of Errors per Word and Words per Minute have been observed. Conclusion: MAGIC-I, the proposed solution works as an assistant of visually impaired users to overcome their daily struggles and stay more connected to the world. A visually impaired user can communicate via their mobile devices with features like eyes free texting using braille, voice calling etc. They can easily take help in an emergency situation with the options of SOS emergency calling and video assistance.

scholarly journals Smart Shoe for Visually Impaired Person

2018 ◽  
Vol 7 (3.12) ◽  
pp. 116
Author(s):  
N Vignesh ◽  
Meghachandra Srinivas Reddy.P ◽  
Nirmal Raja.G ◽  
Elamaram E ◽  
B Sudhakar
Keyword(s):  
System Design ◽  
Visual Processing ◽  
Visually Impaired ◽  
Wearable Device ◽  
Public Places ◽  
Directional Information ◽  
Visually Impaired People ◽  
Android System ◽  
Impaired People ◽  
Impaired Person

Eyes play important role in our day to day lives and are perhaps the most valuable gift we have. This world is visible to us because we are blessed with eyesight. But there are some people who lag this ability of visualizing these things. Due to this, they will undergo a lot of troubles o move comfortably in public places. Hence, wearable device should design for such visual impaired people. A smart shoe is wearable system design to provide directional information to visually impaired people. To provide smart and sensible navigation guidance to visually impaired people, the system has great potential especially when integrated with visual processing units. During the operation, the user is supposed to wear the shoes. When sensors will detect any obstacle, user will be informed through Android system being used by the user. The Smart Shoes along with the application on the Android system shall help the user in moving around independently.

scholarly journals Materialita pohybu: vztah mezi nevidomostí a městským prostorem

2019 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
pp. 13-32 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hana Porkertová
Keyword(s):  
Visual Impairment ◽  
Urban Space ◽  
Network Theory ◽  
Visually Impaired ◽  
Actor Network Theory ◽  
Visually Impaired People ◽  
Impaired People ◽  
Other Information ◽  
Analytical Perspective ◽  
Impaired Person

This article thematizes relations between visual impairment and urban space, drawing from the analytical perspective of actor-network theory (ANT). It traces the ways in which visually impaired people create specific connections with space and how they transform it. Urban space is configured for use by able-bodied persons, for whom movement within it is easy and seems to be disembodied. However, for those who defy the standardization of space, the materiality of movement is constantly present and visible, because the passages are difficult to make and are not ready in advance. These materialities, as well as the strategies that people use to make connections with urban space, differ according to the assemblages that visually impaired people create. A route is different with a cane, a human companion, a guide dog, or the use of a combination of such assistance; the visually impaired person pays attention to different clues, follows specific lines, and other information is important and available. Each configuration makes it possible or impossible to do something; this shows disability as dynamic, and demonstrates the collective nature of action, which is more visible and palpable in the case of a disabled person.

scholarly journals Visual Assistant for Blind People using Raspberry Pi

2021 ◽  
pp. 671-675
Author(s):  
Tejal Adep ◽  
Rutuja Nikam ◽  
Sayali Wanewe ◽  
Dr. Ketaki B. Naik
Keyword(s):  
Visually Impaired ◽  
Daily Life ◽  
Artificial Vision ◽  
Raspberry Pi ◽  
Blind People ◽  
Python Language ◽  
Visually Impaired People ◽  
Impaired People ◽  
Visual Aid ◽  
Impaired Person

Blind people face the problem in daily life. They can't even walk without any aid. Many times they rely on others for help. Several technologies for the assistance of visually impaired people have been developed. Among the various technologies being utilized to assist the blind, Computer Vision-based solutions are emerging as one of the most promising options due to their affordability and accessibility. This paper proposes a system for visually impaired people. The proposed system aims to create a wearable visual aid for visually impaired people in which speech commands are accepted by the user. Its functionality addresses the identification of objects and signboards. This will help the visually impaired person to manage day-to-day activities and navigate through his/her surroundings. Raspberry Pi is used to implement artificial vision using python language on the Open CV platform.

Arabic Braille Touch Keyboard for Android Users

2014 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 54-71 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nabil Hewahi ◽  
Ghadeer Abu-Shaban ◽  
Esraa El-Ashqer ◽  
Ayat Abu-Noqaira ◽  
Nour El-Wadiya
Keyword(s):  
Visually Impaired ◽  
Smart Phone ◽  
Touch Screen ◽  
Arabic Language ◽  
Tactile Feedback ◽  
Smart Phones ◽  
Special Equipment ◽  
Visually Impaired People ◽  
Impaired People ◽  
Touch Screen Devices

As smart phones appeared with their elegant, easy and exciting touch functionality, the use of touch screen devices has been spreading very fast. Beside the previous advantages, smart phones addresses some new challenges for people with disabilities. Most of visually impaired people don't prefer using touch-screen devices, as these lack the tactile feedback and are visually demanding. However, there have been some solutions to come over these problems, but they were not enough. Some of these solutions is to connect a special equipment to a smart phone to allow the visually impaired user to enter the required input. Other applications help visually impaired people to use the smart phones and read whatever on the screen by hovering their finger tips on the text. Visually impaired people who use smart phones have to memorize QWERTY keyboard which have a large number of targets with small locations specified for each target which will lead to a high proportion of error occurrence. In this paper, the authors propose ABTKA- Arabic Braille Touch Keyboard for Android Users. This application is the first application for Arabic language that uses Braille language for visually impaired who are using smart phones or intended to do so. ABTKA facilitates text-entry functionality by supporting Braille writing on touch screens. The used approach in the proposed system can be easily adapted to other languages. The main advantages of the used approach are that it does not need any extra equipment to be connected to the smart phone; it is dynamic (no fixed positions for the touch points), simple to use, one entry for each character, supported by voice and respond promptly to the input. ABTKA involves various algorithms to achieve its objectives. It starts with entering the user standard locations of finger tips, then the user can enter any Braille character which has to be reindexed to be in the same order of Perkins Brailler's buttons. Any inserted character is converted to Arabic character. Any converted character will have a voice feedback. Words and full sentences will also have voice feedback. ABTKA has been tested by various visually impaired people and proved that it is easy to learn and simple to use.

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