U.S. Department of Transportation
Federal Highway Administration
1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE
Washington, DC 20590
202-366-4000
Federal Highway Administration Research and Technology
Coordinating, Developing, and Delivering Highway Transportation Innovations
| Project Information | ||
| Project ID: | FHWA-PROJ-12-0107 | |
| Project Name: | Navigation Guidance for People With Vision Impairment | |
| Project Status: | Active | |
| Start Date: | September 12, 2012 | |
| End Date: | February 29, 2016 | |
| Contact Information | ||
| Last Name: | Wilder | |
| First Name: | Carole | |
| Telephone: | 202-366-1077 | |
| E-mail: | Charlene.Wilder@dot.gov | |
| Office: | TRX Systems, Inc. | |
| Team: | FTA-TRI [HRTM-30] | |
| Program: | Exploratory Advanced Research | |
| Project detail | ||
| Project Description: | The project is intended to accomplish five main objectives in terms of its potential for technical innovation and commercial application in the field of navigation aid for blind or visually impaired persons. The first objective is to provide a navigational aid that can track the location of a blind person anywhere, including areas where a global positioning system (GPS) is not available or not reliable (e.g., indoors, in urban areas with tall buildings, etc.). The second is to look ahead in time and space to plan a route that allows a visually impaired person to get to a destination, then to adaptively update the route based on vision system recognized obstacles that are to be avoided, such as people or construction within the path (a concept know in robotics as Event Horizon). The third is to take gestural input and provide natural route guidance based on tactile stimuli (instead of relying solely on auditory or visual instructions). The fourth objective is to use computer vision techniques to verify that the user has reached the correct destination, as well as to find stairs, elevators (buttons), hallways, and doors in the visual scope to help with navigation. The final objective is to take input from and provide input to intelligent traffic systems (for example, the ability to communicate with drivers to send them alerts when they are getting close to a blind person who is crossing the street). | |
| Goals: | To develop a navigation aid for people with vision disabilities that will increase their mobility by providing them with spatial awareness for long path-planning and guidance. | |
| More Information URL(s): | ||
| Test Methodology: | Phase 1: TRX Systems, Inc. will perform a usability study to better understand the navigation needs of blind users and how to customize the proposed navigation system to address those needs. Phase 2: TRX Systems, Inc. will develop a fully functional prototype of the navigation system; trials will be run within the blind community to assess usability. | |
| Expected Benefits: | To integrate mobile accessibility tools that allow blind people to do route planning and navigation anywhere. | |
| FHWA Topics: | Research/Technologies--FHWA Research and Technology | |
| TRT Terms: | Visually Impaired Persons Navigational Aids Research Pedestrians Planning Global Positioning System |
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| FHWA Disciplines: | None |
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| Subject Areas: | Pedestrians and Bicyclists Research |
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