Haptic Interface for Remote Guidance of People with Visual Disabilities

Visually impaired people experience difficulties in many daily life activities. One of them is navigation through unknown environments. Assistive alternatives such as white canes, guide dogs or guide persons are commonly available. There are also new developments on high-end automated technologies that make use of computer vision, GPS and different sensors in order to provide navigation indications for blind users. These automated technologies, however, are often expensive, and the access to guide dogs or persons is not always easy. Therefore, in this work we present the design and prototyping of a haptic interface for remote guidance of visually impaired people. With this device, any person (such as a relative or a guidance service) can help the user to move around unfamiliar environments by using the camera on the user’s smartphone and transmitting tactile indications via a wearable vibration device, in order to not interfere with the users’ hearing and provide a safe and comfortable experience.