Roboglasses® electronic travel aid with hands free obstacle avoidance for blind and vision impaired users

Roboglasses® 电子旅行辅助设备，可为盲人和视力受损用户提供免提避障功能

• 批准号: 9341780
• 负责人: NICHOLAS A GIUDICE
• 金额: $ 22.6万
• 依托单位: FAUXSEE INNOVATIONS, LLC
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 财政年份: 2017
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2017-09-30 至 2020-09-29
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9341780
• 关键词: Address; Adherence; Adopted; Adult; Aging; Arkansas; Behavioral; Blindness; Body Regions; Canes; Canis familiaris; Characteristics; Cognitive; Communication; Coupled; Coupling; Craniocerebral Trauma; Cues; Data; Data Analyses; Detection; Development; Device Designs; Devices; Economic Development; Effectiveness; Ensure; Environment; Evaluation; Feedback; Funding; Future; Goals; Grant; Hand; Head; Human; Injury; Intuition; Investments; Learning; Legal patent; Life; Light; Location; Measurable; Measures; Modeling; Modernization; Movement; Obstruction; Participant; Performance; Phase; Population; Procedures; Process; Production; Publications; Recruitment Activity; Research; Safety; Science; Self-Help Devices; Shapes; Small Business Innovation Research Grant; Small Business Technology Transfer Research; Surveys; System; Techniques; Technology; Testing; Time; Touch sensation; Training; Travel; United States National Institutes of Health; Video Recording; Visual impairment; Visually Impaired Persons; Work; base; blind; design; efficacy trial; experimental study; haptics; hazard; improved; innovation; insight; instrument; iterative design; member; next generation; novel strategies; phenomenological models; prototype; research and development; response; sensor; success; sunglasses; tool; usability; user protection

Project Summary – Fauxsee Innovations, LLC The objective of this project is to assess the efficacy and usability of an electronic travel aid (ETA) called Roboglasses® (developed through an NSF SBIR grant) in reducing head and upper body injuries sustained by blind people who currently use a cane and/or guide dog for mobility. Canes and dogs only provide information about ground-level obstructions and existing ETAs are intrusive, convey limited information content, and require a steep learning curve to master. Our Roboglasses® solution provides a new approach to obstacle detection/ avoidance designed to address these shortcomings and improve the safety and efficiency of independent travel for blind users. Our approach uses a simple, hands-free solution that provides a new channel of haptic communication to convey environmental information to the user in an intuitive, silent, and easy-to-use manner. The Roboglasses® ETA, worn like a pair of sunglasses, frees the hands to use the dog, hold a cane or other object; it delivers detailed information about the location, distance and direction of obstacles using an unobtrusive haptic interface where learning is natural and intuitive, vs. requiring cognitive effort and prolonged training. As the sensing and delivery of haptic information is coupled to the head rather than the hand as is the case with other ETAs, it provides better perceptual coupling with distance/directional cues and more natural information related to the user's direction of movement. This project proposes to build four advanced models of the Roboglasses® ETA and conduct in-depth human trials with 20 totally blind adults to determine if the new ETA significantly improves protection of these users from head and upper body injuries during navigation. Additional experiments will refine interface parameters and usability characteristics to ensure the system is optimized for blind users and includes their input in the design process. Adopting this human-centered, iterative design approach is rare in ETA development but ensures that the end product is likely to be accepted and adopted by the target demographic. The experimental trials combine lab-based empirical procedures and qualitative user feedback based on meticulously planned testing environments. The environments use obstacles that mimic real-life hazards that frequently cause upper body and head injuries to blind people. An initial sequence of tests will be conducted to optimize interface usability and ensure adherence to good human factors design. ETA sensor data, video recording and behavioral performance on temporal and error measures, and survey responses will be analyzed and correlated to improve device design and for publication of results to advance ETA science. Two members of the research team are blind: Brandon Foshee, Fauxsee's president, and Dr. Nicholas Giudice, an expert in Orientation and Mobility techniques and assistive technology design. This first-hand phenomenology is lacking in most research and development efforts of assistive technologies but is critical for establishing user needs and for understanding what works and doesn't work in an ETA, insight that will guide all aspects of system design and evaluation.

项目摘要 – Fauxsee Innovations, LLC 该项目的目标是评估电子旅行援助 (ETA) 的功效和可用性，该电子旅行援助 (ETA) 称为 Roboglasses®（通过 NSF SBIR 拨款开发）可减少头部和上身受伤 目前使用拐杖和/或导盲犬来行动的盲人。手杖和狗只提供 有关地面障碍物和现有预计到达时间的信息具有干扰性，传达的信息有限 内容，并且需要陡峭的学习曲线才能掌握。我们的 Roboglasses® 解决方案提供了一种新方法 障碍物检测/规避旨在解决这些缺点并提高安全性和效率 为盲人用户提供自助游服务。我们的方法使用简单的免提解决方案，提供了一种新的 触觉通信通道，以直观、无声和稳定的方式向用户传达环境信息 易于使用的方式。 Roboglasses® ETA，像一副太阳镜一样佩戴，解放双手来使用狗， 握住手杖或其他物体；它提供有关位置、距离和方向的详细信息 使用不显眼的触觉界面来克服障碍，其中学习是自然和直观的，而不是需要认知 努力和长期的训练。由于触觉信息的感知和传递是耦合到头部而不是 与其他 ETA 的情况相比，它提供了更好的距离/方向感知耦合 与用户移动方向相关的提示和更自然的信息。本项目拟建设 四种先进的 Roboglasses® ETA 模型，并对 20 名完全失明的成年人进行了深入的人体试验 确定新的 ETA 是否显着改善了对这些用户的头部和上半身伤害的保护 导航期间。额外的实验将完善界面参数和可用性特征 确保系统针对盲人用户进行优化，并将他们的意见纳入设计过程。采用这个 以人为本的迭代设计方法在 ETA 开发中很少见，但可以确保最终产品 可能被目标人群接受和采用。实验试验结合了基于实验室的 基于精心规划的测试环境的经验程序和定性用户反馈。这 环境中使用的障碍物模仿了现实生活中的危险，这些危险经常导致上半身和头部受伤 盲人。将进行初始测试序列以优化界面可用性并确保 坚持良好的人因设计。 ETA 传感器数据、视频记录和行为表现 将分析并关联时间和误差测量以及调查响应，以改进设备设计 并发表结果以推进 ETA 科学。研究小组的两名成员都是盲人：布兰登 Fauxsee 总裁 Foshee 和定向和移动技术专家 Nicholas Giudice 博士 辅助技术设计。大多数研究和开发都缺乏这种第一手的现象学 辅助技术的努力，但对于确定用户需求和了解什么是有效的至关重要 并且不适用于 ETA，洞察力将指导系统设计和评估的各个方面。