CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1. BACKGROUND INFORMATION
Blindness is a state of lacking the visual perception due to physiological or neurological factors. It is a very common disability among the peoples around the world. According to the World Health Organization (WHO) 285 million people are visually impaired worldwide and 90% of them live in low income settings [1]. The World Health Organization expects this number to increase in the coming years. Prior to now, various methods have been used to help the blind with their mobility. The traditional and oldest mobility aids for the blind are the guide dog and the white cane.
The white cane is known as the international symbol of blindness, it enables other people to know that the user is blind …show more content…
For improving the traditional white cane, it will be modified with some electronic components so that it can become a smart cane.
This paper proposes the design and develops a walking stick with obstacle detecting sensors for the blind to use to aid their navigation.
1.2. SIGNIFICANCE AND MOTIVATION
Designing a system that would efficiently help the blind with their navigation in the world today is much needed. Looking at the number of tasks one has to undergo each day especially with the limitation of not being able to see. The need for a system such as this is indispensible.
The motivation behind this project arises from the growing population of the blind community and the desire to help relieve people of some of the major hindrances when it comes to mobility and navigation and to help reduce the level of dependency on other people to a minimum level.
The ability of a system to facilitate independent safe and efficient navigation with reduced human labor and with accuracy is what we achieve in this project.
1.3. AIMS AND …show more content…
A microcontroller is a small single chip computer that can do calculations automatically at high speeds with great accuracy.
The walking stick is equipped with an ultrasonic sensor along with a water sensor. The project uses the ultrasonic sensor to detect obstacles ahead using ultrasonic waves. On seeing obstacles the sensor passes the data to the microcontroller. The microcontroller then processes the data and does some calculations to determine if the obstacle is close enough. If the obstacle is not that close the circuit will do nothing. If the obstacle is close then the microcontroller will send signals to sound the buzzer and activate the vibrator motor.
It also detects water and alerts the blind person with both the buzzer and vibrator module.
The main components of this project are:
ULTRASONIC SENSORS: These provide precise non-contact distance measurements from about two centimeters to three meters [2]. It detects objects by releasing ultrasonic bursts and then listening for an echo. This echo is what enables the sensor to measure the distance of
INTRODUCTION
1.1. BACKGROUND INFORMATION
Blindness is a state of lacking the visual perception due to physiological or neurological factors. It is a very common disability among the peoples around the world. According to the World Health Organization (WHO) 285 million people are visually impaired worldwide and 90% of them live in low income settings [1]. The World Health Organization expects this number to increase in the coming years. Prior to now, various methods have been used to help the blind with their mobility. The traditional and oldest mobility aids for the blind are the guide dog and the white cane.
The white cane is known as the international symbol of blindness, it enables other people to know that the user is blind …show more content…
For improving the traditional white cane, it will be modified with some electronic components so that it can become a smart cane.
This paper proposes the design and develops a walking stick with obstacle detecting sensors for the blind to use to aid their navigation.
1.2. SIGNIFICANCE AND MOTIVATION
Designing a system that would efficiently help the blind with their navigation in the world today is much needed. Looking at the number of tasks one has to undergo each day especially with the limitation of not being able to see. The need for a system such as this is indispensible.
The motivation behind this project arises from the growing population of the blind community and the desire to help relieve people of some of the major hindrances when it comes to mobility and navigation and to help reduce the level of dependency on other people to a minimum level.
The ability of a system to facilitate independent safe and efficient navigation with reduced human labor and with accuracy is what we achieve in this project.
1.3. AIMS AND …show more content…
A microcontroller is a small single chip computer that can do calculations automatically at high speeds with great accuracy.
The walking stick is equipped with an ultrasonic sensor along with a water sensor. The project uses the ultrasonic sensor to detect obstacles ahead using ultrasonic waves. On seeing obstacles the sensor passes the data to the microcontroller. The microcontroller then processes the data and does some calculations to determine if the obstacle is close enough. If the obstacle is not that close the circuit will do nothing. If the obstacle is close then the microcontroller will send signals to sound the buzzer and activate the vibrator motor.
It also detects water and alerts the blind person with both the buzzer and vibrator module.
The main components of this project are:
ULTRASONIC SENSORS: These provide precise non-contact distance measurements from about two centimeters to three meters [2]. It detects objects by releasing ultrasonic bursts and then listening for an echo. This echo is what enables the sensor to measure the distance of