Project Report on WEARABLE GADGET FOR NAVIGATION OF BLIND PEOPLE

Abstract

ABSTRACT Technological advancements have given way to the investment of various assistive features for the blind. Even though the blinds are not completely incapable without these features, many of these have proven to make their lives better. These include smart walking sticks, smart shoes, smart glasses, etc. which commonly incorporates Ultrasonic or IR sensors for obstacle detection. A wearable gadget can be hooked to the clothing or belt buckle or even a walking stick. This helps to identify the obstacles and to measure the distance of the same from the user. This data can be manipulated to generate voice commands with the help of Google assistant that are passed on to the user through his/her smart phone. Raspberry Pi with a Pi camera is used for obstacle identification which is programmed on Python platform. A Light Detection and Ranging(LiDAR) sensor uses pulse laser to measure the distance of obstacles from the user. This measured distance gives an idea about the closeness of an obstacle to a blind person. Voice alerts are generated if the distance between obstacle and user is very small, so as to avoid collision with obstacle. Navigation and directions through voice commands is introduced using Navit and eSpeak. The eSpeak speech synthesizer is also used to provide voice commands regarding the information of obstacle. Google Assistant is used to automate the process and let the blind person communicate with the device for tasks such as begin a navigation, set destination and every tasks that Google assistant can perform.