SMART BLIND STICK FOR DETECTION AND AVOIDANCE OF OBSTACLE

Abstract

Eye sight plays a major role in collecting most of the information from the real world and that information will be processed by brain. Blindness or visual impairment is a condition that affects many people around the world. Visually impaired people suffer inconveniences in their daily and social life with respect to challenges during commuting. This condition leads to the loss of the valuable sense of vision. Worldwide, there are millions of people who are visually impaired, where many of them are blind. The need for assistive devices was and will be continuous. There is a wide range of navigation systems and tools existing for visually impaired individuals. The blind person truly requires an aid in identifying objects. Smart Blind Stick is an interactive device which mainly aims at helping the blind to navigate easily and in a safer manner. In a normal day to day situation a blind person waves the blind stick ahead of them in order to check for any objects or obstacles. The smart stick helps them in this by detecting if any obstacle is blocking the path being taken by the subject. The device detects the obstacle with the help of a camera attached to the front of the stick. On detection of the obstacle, it is identified and appropriate instructions are provided to the user. The instructions to the blind person are sent over earphones. Thus, using the various technologies, the stick provides a safer and a better navigation experience for the visually challenged.