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A major challenge faced by people with visual impairments is “way-finding†- the ability of a person to find his or her way to a given destination or through a space. My thesis proposes a new assistive technology system for the visually impaired to aid in way-finding. This system is based on a camera cell phone, which is held by the user to find and read aloud spatially located physical markers in the environment.
Experts predict that by 2030, rates of vision loss will double along with the country’s aging population. A major challenge faced by people with visual impairments is “way-finding†- the ability of a person to find his or her way to a given destination or through a space. Longstanding orientation and mobility techniques like using a cane or guide dog are effective for following paths and avoiding obstacles, but are less helpful in understanding the the full layout of a space; such as how far away the elevator may be and where the bathrooms are located. Braille signage can be found in many public spaces, but can also prove to be rather unhelpful in many way-finding situations. Braille typically only provides short bits of information, (such as which floor you are on, or which elevator button you are pressing) rather than a more complex understanding of your immediate surroundings, such as you are twenty feet from the elevator. Another shortcoming of Braille is that it is static and not dynamic, meaning that once you put a sign up, you cannot change it’s contents as the space around it changes; such as a new person moving into an office. Therefore, oftentimes Braille signage can be out-of-date.
My thesis proposes a new assistive technology system for the visually impaired to aid in way-finding. This system is based on a camera cell phone, which is held by the user to find and read aloud spatially located physical markers in the environment. These physical markers consist of simple black square patterns that are easily detectable by a computer vision algorithm running on the cellphone, which is able to calculate the real camera position and orientation relative to the physical markers. Each marker is associated with a text file, so that when the marker is detected by the user’s cellphone camera, it will activate a different site-specific audio recording, used to orient the user.
