Walkable area and pavement anomaly segmentation for MSVI-supervised autonomous pedestrian navigation

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Theia is an orientation and mobility device for people with visual impairments. BBC Science Focus Magazine named it as the number one invention that will shape the future (2020). Anthony Camu, Theia's inventor, was named as Innovate's Young Innovator of the Year 2021/22\.Think of it as a guide dog helping Visually Impaired users to navigate.Our patent pending device scans the ground and generates a 3D map of the user's environment. It then uses forces to guide user's hands -- similar to a guide dog pulling on its leash.We have already developed a prototype of our product and tested it extensively with users in Alpha and Beta phases. It is able to successfully support VI people in identifying obstacles and navigating safely.This is potentially good news for the 350,000 blind and partially sighted people in the UK and approximately 300 million worldwide. In the UK, 95% of blind and partially sighted people have collided with an obstacle in their neighbourhood within a three-month period with a third suffering injuries (RNIB, 2017).The most effective support is a guide dog, but there simply are not enough of them. Only 1 in 72 eligible VI people receive a guide dog, leaving a large proportion of VI's requiring alternative support and guidance.That is where Theia can help! However, to make our product more effective a new R&D project is required to look at how to improve the way Theia helps users understand their immediate environment whilst being guided autonomously.To help us get this right, we will be working with Vista Blind, a Leicester-based charity supporting those with visual impairments. Vista Blind will support user-led design workshops with visually impaired users to shape our solution around user experience.At the end of this project, we will have a tested prototype that is ready to help visually impaired people live safer lives.