Tachiquin, R., Velazquez, R., Del-Valle-Soto, C., Gutierrez, C. A., Carrasco, M., De Fazio, R., et al. (2021). Wearable Urban Mobility Assistive Device for Visually Impaired Pedestrians Using a Smartphone and a Tactile-Foot Interface.21(16), 5274.
Abstract: This paper reports on the progress of a wearable assistive technology (AT) device designed to enhance the independent, safe, and efficient mobility of blind and visually impaired pedestrians in outdoor environments. Such device exploits the smartphone's positioning and computing capabilities to locate and guide users along urban settings. The necessary navigation instructions to reach a destination are encoded as vibrating patterns which are conveyed to the user via a foot-placed tactile interface. To determine the performance of the proposed AT device, two user experiments were conducted. The first one requested a group of 20 voluntary normally sighted subjects to recognize the feedback provided by the tactile-foot interface. The results showed recognition rates over 93%. The second experiment involved two blind voluntary subjects which were assisted to find target destinations along public urban pathways. Results show that the subjects successfully accomplished the task and suggest that blind and visually impaired pedestrians might find the AT device and its concept approach useful, friendly, fast to master, and easy to use.
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Velazquez, R., Pissaloux, E., Rodrigo, P., Carrasco, M., Giannoccaro, N. I., & Lay-Ekuakille, A. (2018). An Outdoor Navigation System for Blind Pedestrians Using GPS and Tactile-Foot Feedback. Appl. Sci.-Basel, 8(4), 15 pp.
Abstract: This paper presents a novel, wearable navigation system for visually impaired and blind pedestrians that combines a global positioning system (GPS) for user outdoor localization and tactile-foot stimulation for information presentation. Real-time GPS data provided by a smartphone are processed by dedicated navigation software to determine the directions to a destination. Navigational directions are then encoded as vibrations and conveyed to the user via a tactile display that inserts into the shoe. The experimental results showed that users were capable of recognizing with high accuracy the tactile feedback provided to their feet. The preliminary tests conducted in outdoor locations involved two blind users who were guided along 380-420 m predetermined pathways, while sharing the space with other pedestrians and facing typical urban obstacles. The subjects successfully reached the target destinations. The results suggest that the proposed system enhances independent, safe navigation of blind pedestrians and show the potential of tactile-foot stimulation in assistive devices.
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Velazquez-Guerrero, R., Pissaloux, E., Del-Valle-Soto, C., Carrasco-Zambrano, M. A., Mendoza-Andrade, A., & Varona-Salazar, J. (2021). Mobility of blind people using the smartpho-ne's GPS and a wearable tactile display. Dyna, 96(1), 98–104.
Abstract: This paper presents a novel wearable system devoted to assist the mobility of blind and visually impaired people in urban environments with the simple use of a smartphone and tactile feedback. The system exploits the positioning data provided by the smartphone's GPS sensor to locate in real-time the user in the environment and to determine the directions to a destination. The resulting navigational directions are encoded as vibrations and conveyed to the user via an on-shoe tactile display. To validate the pertinence of the proposed system, two experiments were conducted. The first one involved a group of 20 voluntary normally sighted subjects that were requested to recognize the navigational instructions displayed by the tactile-foot device. The results show high recognition rates for the task. The second experiment consisted of guiding two blind voluntary subjects along public urban spaces to target destinations. Results show that the task was successfully accomplished and suggest that the system enhances independent safe navigation of people with visually impairments. Moreover, results show the potentials of smartphones and tactile-foot devices in assistive technology.
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