Walking Using Touch: Design and Preliminary Prototype of a Non-Invasive ETA for the Visually Impaired

Abstract

This paper presents the design and preliminary prototype of the Intelligent Glasses, a novel non-invasive electronic travel aid (ETA) designed to assist the blind/visually impaired to navigate easily, safely and quickly among obstacles in indoor/outdoor 3D environments. The Intelligent Glasses, a joint project between the Robotics Laboratory of Paris (LRP) and the French Atomic Energy Commission (CEA), is based on a visuo-tactile system. Two mini-cameras mounted on the user's eyeglasses frame detect the obstacles ahead the walking course and translate this information to a tactile display as a map representing where the obstacles are located in the scene. The user freely explores the tactile map and is able to follow it easily, demonstrating initial feasibility of the system.