Purpose

The reduced ability of eyes to see clearly even with the use of glasses is known as the state of visual impairment. Among the many challenges faced, outdoor travel is one of them requiring to travel through surfaces, which has potholes and bumps.

Design/methodology/approach

The depth of the pothole and height of the bump is also conveyed to the user through different vibration pattern of various intensity. With available electronic travel aids, the visually impaired persons are still more inclined to rely on their white cane than carrying additional equipment for obstacle avoidance. In the system, all the components can be attached to the white cane, requiring no additional device to carry.

Findings

Upon experimentation with different obstacle types, the system obtained a 24.88% higher score in comparison to normal walking cane. A comparison with the state of the art available systems is also provided.

Originality/value

Moreover, the accuracy of the assistive cane can be heavily degraded if the cane is not properly held by the user. To restrict the user to hold the cane in only required orientation an alignment sensing switch is also proposed, which is missing in the current available literature.

中文翻译：

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视力障碍者的辅助手杖，通过定向约束感测进行不平坦表面检测

目的

即使使用眼镜，眼睛看清楚的能力下降也被称为视觉障碍状态。在面临的众多挑战中，户外旅行是其中之一，需要穿过具有坑洼和颠簸的表面。

设计/方法/方法

坑洞的深度和凸块的高度也通过各种强度的不同振动模式传达给用户。有了可用的电子旅行辅助工具，与携带额外的设备来避开障碍物相比，视障者仍然更倾向于依靠他们的白手杖。在系统中，所有组件都可以连接到白手杖，不需要额外的设备即可携带。

发现

在对不同类型的障碍物进行实验后，该系统与正常的步行拐杖相比得分高出24.88％。还提供了与现有技术水平的比较。

创意/价值

而且，如果使用者没有适当地握住手杖，则辅助手杖的精度会大大降低。为了限制使用者仅将拐杖保持在所需的方向上，还提出了对准感测开关，这在当前可获得的文献中是缺失的。