Wearable Navigation Assistance System for the Blind and Visually Impaired

The blind people cannot get information of their surrounding environment for example they cannot see any obstacles and hazards in their path. They have no information of objects in their surroundings and direction which is essential for travelling. According to World Health Organization (WHO) report there are 285 million visually impaired people among which 39 million are totally blind. The estimated number of blind people in Pakistan is 1.14 million. Blind people mostly use a white cane or a guide dog for their assistance. However, these techniques are limited as they do not guarantee risk avoidance for the blind people. Many researchers are working on assistance of blind people and have developed several devices including infrared cane, ultrasonic sensors, voice assisted navigation cane and laser-based walker assistance to name a few. Nevertheless, all these schemes are marred by limitations and as such are not utilised in real life. An assistance system was developed in this research work which is based on ultrasonic sensors for obstacle detection. The ultrasonic sensors along with a vibration device and a buzzer are placed on multiple places in a wearable jacket. Sensors scan the environment of user and inform them through vibration and buzzer sound when the sensor detects any obstacle.