Mobile Based IoT Solution for Helping Visual Impairment Users

Abstract

Blind people have many tasks to do in their lives. However, blindness generates challenges for them to perform their tasks. Many blind persons use a traditional stick to move around and to perform their tasks. But the obstacles are not detected in traditional stick, it is ineffective for visually impaired people. The blind person has no idea what kind of objects or obstacles are in front of him/her. The blind person has no idea what size the object is or how far away he or she is from it. It is difficult for a blind person to get around. To assist people with vision impairment by making many of their daily tasks simple, comfortable, and organized, they will be able to recognize anything (an obstacle for blind people). A smart stick with mobile application can be used. One of the solutions is a mobile-based Internet of Things solution, which is a stick intended to assist visually impaired people to navigate more easily. It enables blindness and low vision people to navigate and carry out their daily tasks with ease and comfort. A technologically advanced blind stick that enables visually impaired people to move with ease. This paper proposes a system of software and hardware that helps visually impairment people to find their ways in an easy and comfortable way. The proposed system uses smart stick and mobile application to help blind and visually impaired people to identify objects (such as walls, tables, vehicles, people, etc.) in their ways, this can enable them to avoid these objects. In addition, as a result, the system will notify the user through sound from the smartphone. Finally, if he/she gets lost, he will be able to send an SMS with his/her GPS location.

Intelligent Environments and Assistive Technologies For Assisting Visually Impairment People: A Systematic Literature Review

“…Frequency Reference T1 11 articles [46], [106], [51], [97], [109], [27], [54], [110], [82], [55], [114] T2 25 articles [32], [29], [62], [24], [34], [73], [48], [50], [39], [94], [40], [95], [42], [78], [67], [31], [101], [37], [103], [85], [38], [111], [112], [113], [115] T3 18 articles [86], [87], [88], [90], [71], [64], [93], [35], [72], [74], [36], [96], [98], [69], …”

“…Abdel-Jaber et al [96] proposed a system that uses a smart stick and a mobile application to help visually impaired people navigate their environment by identifying objects and notifying the user through sound alerts on the smartphone. If the user becomes lost, the system can send an SMS with their GPS location.…”

“…[96], [98], [85], [116] [108], [78], [70] Smart Glasses 6 articles [86], [72], [99], [82] [59], [63] Arduino 5 articles [96], [44] [79], [70], [117] Smart Canes 3 articles [89], [69], [116] Smart Glove 2 articles [91], [75] Smart stick 2 articles [96], [85] Smart shoes 2 articles [93], [44] RFID 2 article [32], [31] BEACON 2 article [113] [71] users through a wearable device, which could potentially be connected to a smartphone. Shafique et al [75] provided a comprehensive overview of the Internet of Things (IoT) landscape, including its uses, challenges, and future prospects.…”

Smart stick for blind people with wireless emergency notification

“…Blind people have difficulty interacting with their environment and feeling their environment, they have little contact with the environment, since sight is the most important part of human physiology, 83% of the information humans get from the environment is through sight. According to the World Health Organization, more than 40 million people worldwide are blind and another 250 million suffer from some form of visual impairment and, due to age-related diseases such as glaucoma and diabetes, these figures are in an increase [1]- [4]. Today, blind people use a white cane or a relative to help them detect objects while walking.…”