Utah State projects assist the blind
The Computer Science Assistive Technology Laboratory at Utah State University is working on several projects designed to assist the blind.
The most developed project is a robotic dog that is about 3 feet high.
RoboCart uses sensors placed in an environment, such as a grocery store, to navigate. It gives audio prompts to the user, who uses a keypad similar to a telephone to tell the robot where to go. Chaitanya Gharpure, a computer science master’s student, is working on the robot.
RoboCart has had national attention and there are working models of the robot in use at Lee’s Marketplace. It was featured in local papers as well as USAToday and BBC news.
Vladimir Kulyukin, an assistant professor of computer science, is working on another device called the Wayfinder. The device uses three navigational tools to tell the user where to go. Wi-Fi, the same system used for wireless internet access, can be used indoors. The Global Positioning System can be used outdoors and a digital compass orients the device directionally. Each of the navigation tools compensate for the weaknesses of the others, enabling the Wayfinder to give accurate directions.
“It’s a very helpful device just to orient me in an environment,” Kasondra Payne, one of the subjects helping test the device, said. Payne said she has been visually impaired all her life and has limited vision in her left eye. The best way to explain it, she said, is “I can see a street sign, but I can’t read it.” Payne said she uses other methods of finding her way around and would not need to depend on the Wayfinder unless in a new environment.
“Or, if I’m lazy or tired. Being a mother of two and a half kids, that happens a lot,” she said, laughing.
The Wayfinder is not intended to replace other methods the blind use to get around, said Kulyukin. Its intent is to complement canes and seeing-eye dogs, since those methods do not help if you don’t know the area.
“USU accepts a couple of visually impaired students every year,” Kulyukin said. “The first five or six months are hard because they don’t know their way around campus and have to depend on guides who can see.” The Wayfinder would allow them to be more independent.
The Wayfinder is a bulky object attached to a baby carrier worn in front and uses headphones to deliver prompts to the user. The plan is to get it down to a size smaller than a fanny pack – less conspicuous and less cumbersome.
“It’s a prototype, so it’s not the prettiest, but we’re not fashion people,” said John Nicholson, a computer science Ph.D. candidate working on the Wayfinder. Barath Ramaswamy, an electrical engineering master’s student who graduated in June, also worked on the Wayfinder. He developed the hardware for the device.
Kulyukin said he hopes to have the prototype ready for marketing in a year. Although the technology was initially for the blind, other markets have shown interest, he said. The Wayfinder could be used for architectural tours, amusement parks, conventions and emergency first responders.
As it is, the device is still in the works. Demonstrating the Wayfinder on the Quad, Payne had to compensate for the device’s navigation errors when it prompted her to turn too soon.
“We still need to add orientation,” Nicholson said, since the Wayfinder predicted another turn a bit too early.
“It’s a great start,” Payne said. She said she has a vision of the future of the Wayfinder in which the device can not only take her from point A to point B, but can also tell her about what she passes along the way. Payne is affiliated with the National Federation for the Blind.
The device has already come a long way from its humble beginnings as a frame made of PVC pipe.
“This was the ‘Ghostbuster’ device,” said Kulyukin, demonstrating the awkward backpack. Payne thought it looked like a frame pack.
The CSATL is thinking up other supplementary technologies to aid the blind. Aliasgar Kutiyanawala, an electrical engineering master’s student, is working on another project in its infancy.
“Ali is working on magic carpets,” Kulyukin said. The idea is for tiny sensors to be placed under a carpet that can be read by a sensor at the end of a cane or on the RoboCart. The sensors can tell you where you are in a room. Maybe someday, Kulyukin said, a chip can be placed in a shoe instead of using a cane.
The “smart surfaces” still have a long way to go, but the Wayfinder should be available to students on campus in a year. The system only has seven destinations so far, but eventually it will be able to navigate all over campus.
-ella@cc.usu.edu