Indoor Smart Cane for the Blind

Abstract

To successfully navigate in an indoor environment, a blind person must be able to detect low and mid-height obstacles, as well as stairs. The most common tool that blind people currently use to navigate is the standard white cane. Therefore, we decided to modify and enhance a walking cane, since blind people already are comfortable with it. The standard white cane is only able to detect objects by touch. The blind user sweeps the cane back and forth in front of them. If the cane runs into an object or falls off of the edge of a stair, the blind person becomes aware of the obstacle – too late. We wanted to provide additional feedback to the blind person to warn them of objects before they run into them. We accomplished this goal by adding infrared and sonar sensors to the cane that provided information about the environment to the blind person through tactile- auditory feedback.