Study on Autonomous Outing Support Service for the Visually Impaired

When the visually impaired people go out alone, they rely on white canes and Braille blocks. However, there are problems on the route, such as obstacles on the sidewalk Braille blocks. As a result, a traffic accident or a fall accident from the station’s platform has occurred. That is the cause many cases where people go out without worrying about troubles. In this research and development, those obstacles are detected using a stereo camera linked to a smartphone, and the content is guided to the user by a wearable speaker. In addition, the location of the user is captured by GPS and guided to the destination. There are two stages, one for “Mobility Support Service” and “Watch Over Service”.