Towards Visually Impaired Autonomy in Smart Cities

Abstract

Urban growth adversely affects accesses to public spaces and to their physical and functional structures. Simple tasks become a challenge for visually impaired individuals either because of the difficulty getting reliable non-visual information from the surrounding space or the lack of information. In Smart Cities scenarios, important investments will be directed to urban accessibility, but nowadays people with sensory disabilities still have to face mobility problems in those spaces. Therefore, designing suitable solutions to provide more information about urban spaces is extremely important and requires user participation. This context motivated the development of the Electronic Long Cane project. The project enhances the features of traditional long canes to detect obstacles located above the waist. Nowadays, the electronic cane was redesigned including new functions based on the Internet of Things. As a result, evidences of User-Centric Design have emerged, increasing the probability of success of this technology in Smart Cities context.