SBIR Phase I: An Intelligent Travel Aid for Blind Pedestrians

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9860040 The primary objective of the Phase I Small Business Innovation Research effort proposed herein is to investigate the feasibility of a novel electronic travel aid (ETA) device designed to help blind or visually impaired travelers to navigate safely and quickly among obstacles and other hazards faced by blind pedestrians. Conventional ETA designs often require users to actively scan the environment for obstacle detection. This procedure is timing consuming, error prone, and requires traveler's constant activity and conscious effort. The user also must plan a path around the obstacle. There is no intelligent decision support function in these devices to help the user to pickup an optimal routine, a time-consuming, conscious effort that reduces the walking speeds. Furthermore, one problem with all ETAs based on acoustic feedback is their interference with the blind person's ability to pick-up environmental cues through hearing. The proposed novel ETA device totally eliminates these drawbacks. In the proposed Phase 1 effort, we will build a prototype of the unique sensor head and develop the obstacle detection algorithms. Hardware experiments will be performed to validate the performance and speed. In the Phase II program, we will build a full-bloom version of the prototype with required obstacle detection speed and accuracy. We will implement several enhanced functions for the device, such as computer-controlled brakes, global navigation function using GPS device, and voice activated function for determining the direction. Extensive evaluation tests will be performed and the design will be modified accordingly. The commercial market for a high performance and low-cost travel aid device is large, considering the large population of blind and/or visually impaired persons. More importantly, the social benefit that stems from such products is also significant. The proposed intelligent ETA device allows a greatly enhanced mobility and safety of blind/ visually impaired people.