Navigation Assistance for Individuals with Visual Impairments in Indoor Environments

Canes or service dogs in indoor environments are unable to provide spatial information to the Individuals with Visual Impairments (IVIs) to make them independent. An indoor navigation assistance system can provide information on the presence of any obstacles in their vicinity, the distance of separation and their direction of motion (in case of mobile objects) w.r.t the IVIs. In this paper, we attempt to address the above objective by designing a novel time-efficient algorithm where a smart-glass is employed to spot an obstacle (stationary or mobile) in indoor environment using the inbuilt camera and inertial sensors. The system is implemented and tested extensively in indoor settings.