Autonomous walking stick for the blind using echolocation and image processing

Abstract

The smart walking stick, the Assistor, helps visually challenged people to identify obstacles and provide assistance to reach their destination. The Assistor works based on the technology of echolocation, image processing and a navigation system. The Assistor may serve as a potential aid for people with visual disabilities and hence improves their quality of life. There is a lot of work and research being done to find ways to improve life for visually challenged people. There are multiple walking sticks and systems which help the user to move around, indoor and outdoor locations but none of them provide runtime autonomous navigation along with object detection and identification alerts. The Assistor uses ultrasonic sensors to echo sound waves and detect objects. An image sensor is used to identify the objects in front of the user and for navigation by capturing runtime images and a Smartphone app is used to navigate the user to the destination using GPS (Global Positioning System) and maps.