Summary
The MobiAssist is an assistive device for persons with visual impairment that enables them to navigate independently. The product provides the user with real time feedback about their environment through the use of wearable electronics that pairs with an application on their cellular phone. Feedback is provided to the user in the form of audible speech and tactile vibrations which allows a visually impaired individual to navigate and avoid oncoming obstacles more effectively.
Description
The MobiAssist is an assistive device for persons with visual impairment that enables them to navigate independently. It provides the user with feedback about their environment using wearable electronics that pairs with an application on their phone. Feedback is provided to the user in the form of audible speech and tactile vibrations which allows a visually impaired individual to navigate and avoid oncoming obstacles more effectively.
Visually impaired persons face several challenges while navigating in their daily lives. Many of them are forced to rely on family members or care givers to perform daily functions such as walking, identifying obstacles, operating doors, and appliances etc. The problem of navigation involves knowing their exact location, planning a path to their destination, detecting obstacles along the way, avoiding collisions and adapting to a changing environment.
The MobiAssist is an assistive device designed for persons living with a severe visual impairment to navigate independently without the use of their cane. It utilizes a sensor array and microcontroller board together with the computing power of the user’s mobile device to detect the presence of obstacles within their environment, mapping out a 10ft x 10ft space to the front and sides of the user and up to the height of the user. This information is then processed by the MobiAssist’s operating system software in real time to provide feedback to the user about obstacles in their way. The feedback from the MobiAssist is communicated to the user in the form of audible speech commands and tactile vibrations.
The user interface of the MobiAssist system includes: a wearable sensor array for gathering inputs from the user’s environment; the mobile application for Bluetooth connection and audio feedback warnings which was built using Android Studio 1.4 and works on version Ice-cream sandwich and up; and tactile feedback vibration motors using 0V-3.3V coin vibration motors.
The current Smartphones are readily available and utilised by the target MobiAssist users and these devices are able to provide the processing power needed to support the operation of the MobiAssist. In addition, a crucial growth potential aspect of the MobiAssist is its ability to connect to the internet to provide additional connectivity and access information and services from multiple resources. This future aspect of the product can be easily supported by the Smartphone.