Navigation Systems for the Blind and Visually Impaired: Past Work, Challenges, and Open Problems

Abstract

Over the last decades, the development of navigation devices capable of guiding the blind through indoor and/or outdoor scenarios has remained a challenge. In this context, this paper’s objective is to provide an updated, holistic view of this research, in order to enable developers to exploit the different aspects of its multidisciplinary nature. To that end, previous solutions will be briefly described and analyzed from a historical perspective, from the first “Electronic Travel Aids” and early research on sensory substitution or indoor/outdoor positioning, to recent systems based on artificial vision. Thereafter, user-centered design fundamentals are addressed, including the main points of criticism of previous approaches. Finally, several technological achievements are highlighted as they could underpin future feasible designs. In line with this, smartphones and wearables with built-in cameras will then be indicated as potentially feasible options with which to support state-of-art computer vision solutions, thus allowing for both the positioning and monitoring of the user’s surrounding area. These functionalities could then be further boosted by means of remote resources, leading to cloud computing schemas or even remote sensing via urban infrastructure.

VES: A Mixed-Reality System to Assist Multisensory Spatial Perception and Cognition for Blind and Visually Impaired People

“…To date, several approaches for BVI people's navigation have been tested [3]. According to the objectives pursued, the requirements of the human-machine interface vary.…”

“…This could be appreciated in currently available smartphone applications such as WayFindr [6], NavCog [1] or NaviLens [7]. However, these interfaces showed severe throughput restrictions [3] and were found non-optimal even for simple left/right cues [8]. Other interfaces incorporated non-linguistic solutions, ranging from spatialized audio to haptic displays.…”

“…Particularly, non-intrusive human-machine interfaces act as a bottleneck of the information that can be conveyed to the user. As described in a previous review, this has limited the potential of several proposals [3]. These interfaces must provide adequate data output to the remnant sensory capabilities.…”

Indoor Navigation Systems for Visually Impaired Persons: Mapping the Features of Existing Technologies to User Needs

“…Generalized system architectures for sensor-, computer vision-, and smartphone-based ETAs were presented in a literature review by Islam et al, providing some details on how the components of these system work together [9]. Chronological development in the field was also recently reviewed, showing how ETAs progressed from the early 1960s to the current days [10]. While some authors choose to set their main focus on reviewing various solutions addressing the components of navigation process (for instance, obstacle detection and avoidance [11,12]), the others take a more holistic approach and assess the pros and cons of assistive technology for navigating in unknown surroundings [13,14].…”

Identification of Markers in Challenging Conditions for People with Visual Impairment Using Convolutional Neural Network

“…As a result, multiple researches have been carried out to help PVI in indoor navigation and identifying products in shops or other objects using Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, RFID, NFC, and tags. These solutions differ in the types of the signals used, the positioning method, and the accuracy [12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19]. These solutions fall into three categories: Tag Based Systems: Such as radio-frequency identification (RFID) and near field communication (NFC), which use wireless components to transfer data from a tag attached to an object for the purpose of automatic identification and tracking [20,21].…”