Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2019 Oct 28;19(21):4670.
doi: 10.3390/s19214670.

Double-Diamond Model-Based Orientation Guidance in Wearable Human-Machine Navigation Systems for Blind and Visually Impaired People

Xiaochen Zhang  1 , Hui Zhang  2 , Linyue Zhang  3 , Yi Zhu  4   5 , Fei Hu  6
Affiliations

Double-Diamond Model-Based Orientation Guidance in Wearable Human-Machine Navigation Systems for Blind and Visually Impaired People

Xiaochen Zhang et al. Sensors (Basel). .

Abstract

This paper presents the analysis and design of a new, wearable orientation guidance device in modern travel aid systems for blind and visually impaired people. The four-stage double-diamond design model was applied in the design process to achieve human-centric innovation and to ensure technical feasibility and economic viability. Consequently, a sliding tactile feedback wristband was designed and prototyped. Furthermore, a Bezier curve-based adaptive path planner is proposed to guarantee collision-free planned motion. Proof-of-concept experiments on both virtual and real-world scenarios are conducted. The evaluation results confirmed the efficiency and feasibility of the design and imply the design's remarkable potential in spatial perception rehabilitation.

Keywords: blind and visually impaired people; double diamond; navigation aids; tactile feedback; user-centric design.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
A three-layer planning-related decision-making structure for blind and visually impaired (BVI) navigation systems.
Figure 2
Figure 2
The four-stage double-diamond design model.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Average distance in two-point discrimination sensitivity test on body locations; data were taken from the associated website of Reference [51].
Figure 4
Figure 4
The design concept of the guidance glove.
Figure 5
Figure 5
Typical application scenarios of guidance glove.
Figure 6
Figure 6
The design concept of the guidance wristband.
Figure 7
Figure 7
Proof of concept prototype of guidance glove [53].
Figure 8
Figure 8
Proof-of-concept prototype of guidance wristband.
Figure 9
Figure 9
A Bezier curve passing P0, Pext, and Pk, defined by control points P0, PC, and Pk.
Figure 10
Figure 10
Virtual field test with the designed guidance wristband and feedback joystick.
Figure 11
Figure 11
Predefined path, guiding force, and trajectory of traveler in virtual fields tests.
Figure 12
Figure 12
Displacement to predefined path in virtual field tests.
Figure 13
Figure 13
Field test scene. Left, an overlook mode unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) is used to capture and transmit the positioning status of the participant and landmarks to the server to calculate the guiding direction. Right, the image from the UAV camera is shown, in addition to the auto-marked landmarks and the predefined path.
Figure 14
Figure 14
Displacement to predefined path in field tests.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Rra B., Flaxman S.R., Braithwaite T., Cicinelli M.V., Das A., Jonas J.B., Keeffe J., Kempen J.H., Leasher J., Limburg H.J.L.G.H. Magnitude, temporal trends, and projections of the global prevalence of blindness and distance and near vision impairment: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Lancet Glob. Health. 2017;5:e888–e897. - PubMed
    1. World Health Organization . Blindness and Vision Impairment. WHO; Geneva, Switzerland: 2018.
    1. Islam M.M., Sadi M.S., Zamli K.Z., Ahmed M.M. Developing walking assistants for visually impaired people: A review. IEEE Sens. J. 2019;19:2814–2828. doi: 10.1109/JSEN.2018.2890423. - DOI
    1. Bhowmick A., Hazarika S.M. An insight into assistive technology for the visually impaired and blind people: State-of-the-art and future trends. J. Multimodal User Interfaces. 2017;11:149–172. doi: 10.1007/s12193-016-0235-6. - DOI
    1. Kulkarni A., Wang A., Urbina L., Steinfeld A., Dias B. Robotic assistance in indoor navigation for people who are blind; Proceedings of the 11th ACM/IEEE International Conference on Human-Robot Interaction (HRI); Christchurch, New Zealand. 7–10 March 2016; pp. 461–462.

LinkOut - more resources