User-Centered Indoor Navigation System for the Visually Impaired
摘要
In this work, we propose a novel indoor navigation system based on wearable haptic technologies, aimed at increasing the autonomy and improving the quality of life for blind individuals. Despite promising research outcomes in the field of technological travel aids, these solutions have seen limited acceptance in real-world applications, due in part to the insufficient involvement of end-users in the conceptual and design phases. Our proposed system was developed with continuous feedback from visually impaired persons. It consists of an RGB-D camera, a processing unit that computes visual information for obstacle avoidance, and the CUFF device, which provides normal and tangential force cues for guidance in unfamiliar indoor environments. Experiments with blindfolded subjects and visually impaired participants demonstrate that our system could be an effective support during indoor navigation and a viable tool for training blind individuals in the use of travel aids.