UltraSight: Device for Head-Level Obstacle Warning for the Visually Impaired

Abstract

Walking outside in Thailand is difficult for the visually impaired because obstacles on sidewalks such as uneven pavements, light poles and billboards. These obstacles can cause frequent accidents. Although some advanced technologies can facilitate the visually impaired to walk safely, accidents still occur. Most currently technologies focus on detection of ground-level obstacles and require much processing time. There are few devices constructed to prevent accidents that happen to the head. This study is a development of a collision warning device to alert the visually impaired of obstacles that their head may crash into while walking. UltraSight consists of an Arduino, an ultrasonic distance sensor, and a PIR motion sensor. Its operation was robustly designed based on the concepts and theories of walking behavior. It was tested in a laboratory equipped with several mock poles and other obstacles. UltraSight avoided 96% of them. A future design will be a similar device and attached on the head of user.