Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://dl.ucsc.cmb.ac.lk/jspui/handle/123456789/2457
Title: Tactile Routing Cues for Blind Outdoor Navigation
Authors: Liyanage, N.N.
Issue Date: 20-May-2014
Abstract: Blind Navigation has been a widely addressed topic where the mobility is getting more and more important. Many assistive technologies exist in the form of navigational devices where most of them convey the information as auditory commands. Though it is more informative it could also be problematic when the sensory channels are overloaded, hence the user gets distracted from the environment. Therefore the need of another modality to assist the blind navigation has been aroused. A prototype navigational system was developed where the tactile vibrations are used as the feedback mechanism. When the destination is given, the path will be selected from the users current location to the destination using GPS technology, Google Maps and location based services. The user orientation is tracked by means of inertial sensors of the mobile device such as accelerometer and magnetometer. With this information, the user will be guided along the selected path. The obstacle detection capability has also been added to the system to detect the obstacles along the moving path. After evaluating the system it was found that the waypoint navigation in outdoor environments with vibro-tactile feedback is possible. It could not be proven that the obstacle detection improves the performance of the navigation task, but safety. It was identi ed that utilizing the location of the vibration rather than encoding di erent pat- terns to the same vibration location is more important for e cient directional navigation. It was realized that the duration of the vibration has a big in uence on the waiting time when taking a decision. It was found that the users have a high degree of interest in using vibro-tactile feedback to assist navigation, yet the issues such as encoding distance information, providing situational awareness are to be solved.
URI: http://hdl.handle.net/123456789/2457
Appears in Collections:SCS Individual Project - Final Thesis (2013)

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