A tangible interface to help visually impaired people navigate

The Third Eye is a navigation glasses for visually impaired people. Utilizing ultrasonic sensors and live vibration actuation, this device allows users to understand the surrounding environment and avoid obstacles. Through this device, we intend to provide a better walking experience and enhance the matter of being mobile, safe and independent for the visually impaired.

Problem

Design a low cost, lightweight electronic travel aids?

Among the 25.2 million people in U.S. who is suffering from sight loss, only 19,500 were users of ETAs (Electronic Travel Aids). The reason for its failure gains from its relatively high price, heavy weight and lifestyle incompatibilities.

Moreover, despite the functionality that the white canes provide, the blind people are just avoiding obstacles in the space most of the time. They did not really know what is around them until they actually touched the objects with the canes.

Proposed solution

Using vibration pattern as a platform to understand the environment

The Third Eye enables users to interpret spatial environment three dimensionally, helping them to understand the surroundings without touching the obstacles. It detects not only the objects on the ground but also hovering obstacles as well.

Moving forward

The Third Eye enables users to interpret spatial environment three dimensionally, helping them to understand the surroundings without touching the obstacles. It detects not only the objects on the ground but also hovering obstacles as well.

Obstacle detected

Take the street sign for example. When the user move closer to the sign, the pattern goes from front to the back. So it feels like someone’s dragging the user from that back, signaling that there’s an obstacle in front of them, maybe they should step back a little bit.

Moving closer

As the user is getting closer and closer to the obstacle, the frequency and intensity of vibration changes as well. There are three different frequencies that we designed. The longest distance is 2 meters, and the shortest distance is 30 centemeters.

3D scan the environment

The user could also use the glasses to scan around the environment. In this video based on the vibration pattern from the glasses. The users know there are all obstacles around them, which means they might have walked into a dead end alley.

Multi sensing

The two ultrasonic sensors on the glasses could work separately. In this video when the users go up to the stairs, they know there is nothing in front of them. But when they scan around the space (based on the distance), they could feel there’s something at their left, which leads them to the door. So it gives the users a basic sense and understanding of how this structure and environment could be like.

Design & prototype

Result and lessons learned

At the beginning of the design process, we were constantly thinking of removing the interface of walking canes in order to provide a better walking experience for blind people.

We implemented different forms of wearable gadgets such as Navigation Gloves as well as Ultrasonic shoelaces. Despite the functionality that the devices provide to the users, there is one significant aspect that was not taken into account - psychological aspect. The cane does not only work as an aiding tool for visually impaired people, it also allows them to feel safer and more confident while using.

Therefore, we decided to design a device that could work with the cane, solving the problems that the cane has and help the visually impaired users to have a better understanding of the environment where they are.