For the visually impaired, navigating a new environment is extremely challenging. The difficulty in gathering information about the environment can provide a daunting experience and discourage visually impaired individuals from going outside by themselves. This area is where assistive technologies such as robots can provide value to these individuals and help visually impaired users navigate through their environment. The use of robots for indoor navigation is heavily researched within the field of robotics and assistive technology. However, the most common way that the issue is approached is by having the robot walk alongside the user, similar to a trained guide dog. One problem with this approach is that it attracts unwanted attention to the visually impaired user and creates feelings of discomfort in their experience.

To avoid attracting unnecessary attention to the user, we decided on a different approach for the interaction between the user and the robot. The robot is designed to guide visually impaired users with indoor navigation by acting as a waypoint for the user throughout the path. During use, the robot will lead the user in the path to a waypoint in close proximity ahead of the user. Then as the user approaches the waypoint, the robot will move to the next waypoint, repeating until the user reaches the destination. This approach means that the robot is detached from the user to avoid attracting extra attention while delivering a semi-assisted navigation experience, where the user can start to become more familiar with the environment as well.

Week 6:

• Literature Review

Week 7 (This week):

• Proposal Presentation

• Project Proposal Report

Week 8 - 10

• Develop navigation algorithm

• Test navigation algorithm within a simulation

Week 11 - 12

• Test navigation algorithm in the real world

• Develop features for human recognition for waypoint system

Week 13:

• Testing

• Begin final report

Week 14:

• Finish final report