Safe Local Navigation for Visually Impaired Users With a Time-of-Flight and Haptic Feedback Device

This paper presents ALVU (Array of Lidars and Vibrotactile Units), a contactless, intuitive, hands-free, and discreet wearable device that allows visually impaired users to detect low- and high-hanging obstacles, as well as physical boundaries in their immediate environment. The solution allows for...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inIEEE transactions on neural systems and rehabilitation engineering Vol. 26; no. 3; pp. 583 - 593
Main Authors Katzschmann, Robert K., Araki, Brandon, Rus, Daniela
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published United States IEEE 01.03.2018
Subjects
Adult
Aged
Assistive device
Belts
Blindness - rehabilitation
Cameras
Equipment Design
Feedback, Psychological
Female
haptic feedback array
Haptic interfaces
human-robot interaction
Humans
Male
Middle Aged
Navigation
perception
Robot sensing systems
Sensor arrays
Sensory Aids
sightless navigation
Vibration
Vibrations
Visually Impaired Persons
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Summary:This paper presents ALVU (Array of Lidars and Vibrotactile Units), a contactless, intuitive, hands-free, and discreet wearable device that allows visually impaired users to detect low- and high-hanging obstacles, as well as physical boundaries in their immediate environment. The solution allows for safe local navigation in both confined and open spaces by enabling the user to distinguish free space from obstacles. The device presented is composed of two parts: a sensor belt and a haptic strap. The sensor belt is an array of time-of-flight distance sensors worn around the front of a user's waist, and the pulses of infrared light provide reliable and accurate measurements of the distances between the user and surrounding obstacles or surfaces. The haptic strap communicates the measured distances through an array of vibratory motors worn around the user's upper abdomen, providing haptic feedback. The linear vibration motors are combined with a point-loaded pretensioned applicator to transmit isolated vibrations to the user. We validated the device's capability in an extensive user study entailing 162 trials with 12 blind users. Users wearing the device successfully walked through hallways, avoided obstacles, and detected staircases.
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ISSN:1534-4320
1558-0210
1558-0210
DOI:10.1109/TNSRE.2018.2800665