SMART WALKING STICK FOR VISUALLY IMPAIRED PEOPLE

Abstract

Visually impaired people when they move will encounter many obstacles and difficulties ahead of them. Thus, they often depend on outside support such as guides, trained dogs, and any long canes. Because of their low cost, white canes are often used by the blinds. However, traditional white canes cannot accurately detect obstacles higher than the knee or at distances beyond the length of the white cane. Therefore, the goal set out in the article is to create a smart cane that can assist blind people in detecting obstacles to warn of dangers ahead, as well as have location tracking to help caregivers easily track the user's location and are affordable to make it easily accessible to disadvantaged visually impaired people. Based on the set goals, I used easy-to-find sensors and tested the operation of each individual sensor to perform small tasks that were then packaged into a complete product.The device includes an ultrasonic sensor and infrared sensor to detect obstacles ahead, a vibration motor and siren. A built-in GPS module that allows tracking the location of the cane and the user and has a tilt angle sensor to detect the status of the stick will send a notification to the caregiver when the stick is detected falling.