iSEE: IOT-Based Smart Walking Cane for Blind People
- Jerome D. Bongcawel
- Kaceylene R. Cotioco
- Ma. Daine F. Lorejo
- Angelica B. Luce
- Emerson S. Yaguel
- Lorenzo C. Macam
Abstract
Blind or visually challenged people have difficulty connecting with others and recognizing the world's beauty. Visually challenged people may struggle to identify where they are and how to get from one place to another, making physical exercise challenging. Traditional canes have aided the visually impaired or blind in improving their mobility and recognizing threats; however, with the rapid growth of contemporary technology, the limitations of these aids have become apparent. These devices have a limited range of motion and provide very little information. The desire to employ current technologies to make people's lives easier is becoming increasingly vital as the reach of electronic gadgets grows. Many new areas of research, such as electronic mobility support for the blind, have sprung up as a result of this. The demand for navigational aids and navigational navigation has skyrocketed. The researchers came up with an idea to develop a device that helps blind or visually impaired for navigation. This study is focused on building a device called iSEE, an IoT-based smart-walking cane developed to help blind or visually impaired people safely navigate and avoid obstacles in their surroundings even without any direct contact with an obstacle. It is composed of HC-SR04 ultrasonic sensors that detect obstacles; an LM386 audio amplifier and a micro-SD card module responsible for the audio produced by the device; a buzzer for notification; a vibration motor that is meant for notifying the users with other disabilities like being deaf about the distance and direction of obstacles; a GSM module for the SMS emergency notifications; and a GPS module for the location of the device. Also, a mobile application was developed which shows the real-time tracking of the location of the device and buttons that trigger the buzzer. The overall functionality and usability of the device prototype and mobile application have been tested using a series of test cases. The researchers have executed three trials to ensure that the prototype and mobile application work properly and meet the objectives of the study.
