InWalker: smart white cane for the blind

Abstract

Background/Purpose: Visual impairment is a disability more commonly caused by diseases that lead to several disadvantages to the daily activities amongst those blind. For almost a century since the white cane was first introduced, the cane has remained as the most reliable tool for those affected by blindness.

Methods: By using a combination of the capabilities of Internet of Things (IoT) and existing devices, such as mobile phones, an InWalker system is proposed to expand the functionality of the typical white cane, so as to introduce several new features that enhance the safety and confidence amongst people who are blind. As such, this paper explores the existing works and projects to comprehend the motivation and the standard practices for each proposed feature. Each of the strength and drawback has been assessed thoroughly to refine the scope of this project.

Results: The proposed project, InWalker, is an intelligent system that has an embedded board system with various sensors to enhance the usability of white cane. The inputs from the sensor are processed on a microcontroller, which then pass the data to a smartphone via Bluetooth for additional features, such as global positioning system (GPS) tracking and SMS services.

Conclusions: Based on the initial user testing, the proposed system has successfully fulfilled most of the users’ need.

Implication for Rehabilitation

• Visual impairment is a disability more commonly caused by diseases that lead to several disadvantages amongst those blind.

• The white cane has been seen as the most reliable tool for the visual impaired.

• This tool could be further improved with the integration of additional sensors that works with today’s mobile devices.

• The proposed system, InWalker, is able to improve the overall quality of life among people who are blind through several features: obstacle detection, GPS tracking and a light illumination in dark environments for increased safety.

Keywords:

• Smart white cane
• embedded board system
• Internet of Things
• visual impairment

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.