Ikuko Eguchi Yairi

Walking Support Using Compact Terminals with Infrared Audio Communication

We developed a voice guidance system that increases-mobility for visually impaired people. We use infrared communication technology called Compact Battery-less Information Terminals. The user-friendly information terminal of this system provides guidance as well as instructions for the system, which can be installed at various locations. We also developed a bone conduction headphone for the system’s information terminal, which helps visually impaired users hear other sounds in the users’ surroundings without disturbance by audio information generated by the system. To evaluate the usability of this system, we conducted an experiment in which visually impaired people used the system to be guided to a destination.

Robotic communication terminals as a ubiquitous system for improving human mobility by making environment virtually barrier-free

Mobility represents very basic and essential behavior for people: reaching a destination, strolling at will, and much more. Indispensable for independence, it also makes life more enjoyable. Yet moving from place to place may be difficult for disabled, elderly, or ill individuals affected by an impairment of sight, hearing, or lower-extremity motor function, which undermine abilities needed for mobility: recognizing things, controlling motor function, and accessing information. To offset this, countries and communities have been actively preparing systems and facilities in recent years to make routes barrier-free. But it would be unfeasible to make all routes barrier-free, and there continues to be a great need for mobility support with IT technology as an alternative means of assistance. We have been researching to put Robotic Communication Terminals (RCT) into practice, which supports the three elementary behaviors of recognition, actuation, and information access, targeting almost all the pedestrians including elderly and disabled people with various types, levels, and duration of disabilities. The RCT consists of three types of terminals: environment-embedded terminal, user-carried mobile terminal, and user-carrying mobile terminal. These terminals communicate with one another to provide the users with a comfortable means of mobility. This paper introduces our recent research progress.