Work Directions and New Results in Electronic Travel Aids for Blind and Visually Impaired People

摘要

Many efforts have been invested in the last years, based on sensor technology and signal processing, to develop electronic travel aids (ETA) capable to improve the mobility of blind users in unknown or dynamically changing environment. In spite of these efforts, the already proposed ETAs do not meet the requirements of the blind community and the traditional tools (white cane and guiding dogs) are still the only used by visually impaired. In this paper, research efforts to improve the main two components of an ETA tool: the Obstacles Detection System (ODS) and the Man-machine Interface (MMI) are presented. Now, for the first time, the ODS under development is bioinspired from the visual system of insects, particularly from the locust and from the fly. Some original results of the author's team, related to the new concept of Acoustical Virtual Reality (AVR) used as a MMI is then discussed in more detail. Some conclusions and the further developments in this area are also presented.