Background

We use our eyes for everything from browsing social media to crossing the street. Losing our sense of sight can be a jarring experience that many people must deal with as they age. With fading vision, even simple tasks like navigating around a home become difficult. Together we aimed to provide a more modern solution to assistive technology for the blind and visually impaired. To do this, we planned to develop an array of sensors that would warn the user of nearby obstacles through directional vibrations, replacing their sense of vision with an advanced sense of touch.

Currently, there aren’t many navigation options for the visually impaired. They can either choose to use a cane, a guide dog, or to simply memorize their environment. The latter of the three only works at home or in local neighborhoods where furniture or vehicles aren’t likely to change positions. Canes are cumbersome and do not work well in large crowds of people. Guide dogs, along with their expensive initial purchase price, come with their own maintenance costs. It seems as if all methods for assisting the visually impaired are stuck in the 20th century. Our project aimed to bring modern sensors to the field of assistive technology, alleviating the issues associated with the previously mentioned options.