Many blind or visually impaired people struggle with traveling, navigating, and safely participate in the modern fast paced and busy environments, especially in a city such as this one. Some of the problems they face, especially when using a seeing-eye cane, it is hard to fully detect all the objects in front of a person, as well as the comfortably and ease to have and carry a cane. To fix this problem, we plan to design and create a pair of goggles that a user can comfortably wear that alerts them to when an object is in close range.
Our goal is to eliminate the instability and difficulty of the navigation of those visually impaired. By utilizing 3D printing technology, light and ultrasonic sensors, an electronic visual aid can be developed to replace seeing eye canes for the visually disabled. Through a continuous feedback loop that identifies the position of and distance from surrounding objects, a visual aid headset for one’s eye produces light to indicate to its user that objects are present and one must acknowledge them appropriately.
Isolating what kind of sensor and material to use is our main technical challenge, as well as determining how to accommodate any scenario in any environment if the final product is to universal practical use. The main tasks necessary for completion include a detailed structural design must be developed and measured as to accommodate all head shapes before production, and the final product must be realistically tested with multiple qualifying volunteers to ensure its real world functionality and accuracy.
