NAVIG is a multidisciplinary and innovative project aiming at augmenting the autonomy of visually impaired people in their basic daily actions the most problematic: navigation and object localization. This video presents the different components of the systems (artificial vision, 3D sounds rendered by binaural synthesis, pedestrian GIS, vocal interface,...) and the prototype being developed.
A new device developed by researchers in India uses ultrasound to guide the visually impaired through the busy streets.
Known as the SmartCane, the new device sends out ultrasound waves to surrounding areas and identifies obstacles by detecting the echoes that bounce back from nearby objects. Once an obstacle is detected, it uses vibrations to inform and divert the user around it.
Regular white canes can only detect obstacles up to knee height, while the Smartcane can detect obstacles from knee to head height, CNN reports.