Journal
SENSORS
Volume 12, Issue 12, Pages 17476-17496Publisher
MDPI
DOI: 10.3390/s121217476
Keywords
visually impaired; obstacle detection; stereo camera; ground plane estimation; audio warning
Funding
- Spanish Ministry of Education and Science (MINECO) [TRA2011-29001-C04-01]
- Comunidad de Madrid [CAM - S2009/DPI-1559]
Ask authors/readers for more resources
The aim of this article is focused on the design of an obstacle detection system for assisting visually impaired people. A dense disparity map is computed from the images of a stereo camera carried by the user. By using the dense disparity map, potential obstacles can be detected in 3D in indoor and outdoor scenarios. A ground plane estimation algorithm based on RANSAC plus filtering techniques allows the robust detection of the ground in every frame. A polar grid representation is proposed to account for the potential obstacles in the scene. The design is completed with acoustic feedback to assist visually impaired users while approaching obstacles. Beep sounds with different frequencies and repetitions inform the user about the presence of obstacles. Audio bone conducting technology is employed to play these sounds without interrupting the visually impaired user from hearing other important sounds from its local environment. A user study participated by four visually impaired volunteers supports the proposed system.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available