Obstacle detection and notification method in using an electronic white cane

Abstract

It is very difficult for visually impaired person to acquire information on obstacles such as a protuberance sticking out into a in his way by using only a white cane. Detection methods of obstacles with a white cane which has sensors have been studied [1). In the previous work, in order to prevent a decrease in concentration of a user due to excessive notifications, the method notifying only obstacles which collide with a user with high possibility, was proposed. However, the method was not able to adapt to every user's swinging speed of a white cane. This paper proposes the method of detecting obstacles with high collision possibility that adapts to individual swinging speed by using the swinging time from right to left(or left to right) and angular velocity while swinging. Effectiveness of this method is also clarified.