A pathway to independence : wayfinding systems which adapt to a visually impaired person's context

Despite an increased amount of technologies and systems designed to address the navigational requirements of the visually impaired community of approximately 7.4 million in Europe, current research has failed to sufficiently address the human issues associated to their design and use. As more types of sensing technologies are developed to facilitate visually impaired travellers for different navigational purposes (local vs. distant and indoor vs. outdoor), an effective process of synchronisation is required. This synchronisation is represented through context-aware computing, which allows contextual information to not just be sensed (like most current wayfinding systems), but also adapted, discovered and augmented. In this paper, three user studies concerning the suitability of different types of navigational information for visually impaired and sighted people are described. For such systems to be effective, human cognitive maps, models and intentions need to be the focus of further research, in order to provide information that is tailored to a user's task, situation or environment. Methodologies aimed at establishing these issues need to be demonstrated through a multidisciplinary framework

Review of Machine Vision-Based Electronic Travel Aids

Visual impaired people have navigation and mobility problems on the road. Up to now, many approaches have been conducted to help them navigate around using different sensing techniques. This paper reviews several machine vision- based Electronic Travel Aids (ETAs) and compares them with those using other sensing techniques. The functionalities of machine vision-based ETAs are classified from low-level image processing such as detecting the road regions and obstacles to high-level functionalities such as recognizing the digital tags and texts. In addition, the characteristics of the ETA systems for blind people are particularly discussed

On supporting university communities in indoor wayfinding: An inclusive design approach

Mobility can be defined as the ability of people to move, live and interact with the space. In this context, indoor mobility, in terms of indoor localization and wayfinding, is a relevant topic due to the challenges it presents, in comparison with outdoor mobility, where GPS is hardly exploited. Knowing how to move in an indoor environment can be crucial for people with disabilities, and in particular for blind users, but it can provide several advantages also to any person who is moving in an unfamiliar place. Following this line of thought, we employed an inclusive by design approach to implement and deploy a system that comprises an Internet of Things infrastructure and an accessible mobile application to provide wayfinding functions, targeting the University community. As a real word case study, we considered the University of Bologna, designing a system able to be deployed in buildings with different configurations and settings, considering also historical buildings. The final system has been evaluated in three different scenarios, considering three different target audiences (18 users in total): i. students with disabilities (i.e., visual and mobility impairments); ii. campus students; and iii. visitors and tourists. Results reveal that all the participants enjoyed the provided functions and the indoor localization strategy was fine enough to provide a good wayfinding experience

MULTI-SENSOR LOCALIZATION AND TRACKING IN DISASTER MANAGEMENT AND INDOOR WAYFINDING FOR VISUALLY IMPAIRED USERS

This dissertation proposes a series of multi-sensor localization and tracking algorithms particularly developed for two important application domains, which are disaster management and indoor wayfinding for blind and visually impaired (BVI) users. For disaster management, we developed two different localization algorithms, one each for Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) and Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) technology, which enable the disaster management system to track patients in real-time. Both algorithms work in the absence of any pre-deployed infrastructure along with smartphones and wearable devices. Regarding indoor wayfinding for BVI users, we have explored several types of indoor positioning techniques including BLE-based, inertial, visual and hybrid approaches to offer accurate and reliable location and orientation in complex navigation spaces. In this dissertation, significant contributions have been made in the design and implementation of various localization and tracking algorithms under different requirements of certain applications

SLAM for Visually Impaired People: A Survey

In recent decades, several assistive technologies for visually impaired and blind (VIB) people have been developed to improve their ability to navigate independently and safely. At the same time, simultaneous localization and mapping (SLAM) techniques have become sufficiently robust and efficient to be adopted in the development of assistive technologies. In this paper, we first report the results of an anonymous survey conducted with VIB people to understand their experience and needs; we focus on digital assistive technologies that help them with indoor and outdoor navigation. Then, we present a literature review of assistive technologies based on SLAM. We discuss proposed approaches and indicate their pros and cons. We conclude by presenting future opportunities and challenges in this domain.Comment: 26 pages, 5 tables, 3 figure

On the right track : comfort and confusion in indoor environments

Indoor navigation systems are not well adapted to the needs of their users. The route planning algorithms implemented in these systems are usually limited to shortest path calculations or derivatives, minimalizing Euclidian distance. Guiding people along routes that adhere better to their cognitive processes could ease wayfinding in indoor environments. This paper examines comfort and confusion perception during wayfinding by applying a mixed-method approach. The aforementioned method combined an exploratory focus group and a video-based online survey. From the discussions in the focus group, it could be concluded that indoor wayfinding must be considered at different levels: the local level and the global level. In the online survey, the focus was limited to the local level, i.e., local environmental characteristics. In this online study, the comfort and confusion ratings of multiple indoor navigation situations were analyzed. In general, the results indicate that open spaces and stairs need to be taken into account in the development of a more cognitively-sounding route planning algorithm. Implementing the results in a route planning algorithm could be a valuable improvement of indoor navigation support

The Role of Situation Awareness Metrics in the Assessment of Indoor Orientation Assistive Technologies that Aid Blind Individuals in Unfamiliar Indoor Environments

The importance of raising user\u27s situation awareness has proven to be an important factor in the successful use of systems that involve mission-critical tasks. Indoor Orientation Assistive Technology (OAT) that supports blind individuals is one of the systems that needs to be oriented to support user\u27s situation awareness. In the tasks involved in this system, blind individuals try to maintain their spatial understanding of the environment. The current evaluation methods of Orientation Assistive Technology that aids blind travelers within indoor environments rely on the performance metrics. When enhancing such systems, evaluators conduct qualitative studies to learn where to focus their efforts. The main purpose of this thesis is to investigate the use of an objective method to facilitate blind travelers situation awareness when traveling unfamiliar indoor environments. We investigate the use of in-task probes using the Situation Awareness Global Assessment Technique (SAGAT) method, and post self-reported questionnaire using the Situation Awareness Rating Technique (SART) method. The goal of this metric is to design an objective method that can highlight design areas that need improvements when evaluating such systems. Also, we investigate the relationship between user\u27s situation awareness and user\u27s confidence, satisfaction, and stress levels

A HoloLens Application to Aid People who are Visually Impaired in Navigation Tasks

Day-to-day activities such as navigation and reading can be particularly challenging for people with visual impairments. Reading text on signs may be especially difficult for people who are visually impaired because signs have variable color, contrast, and size. Indoors, signage may include office, classroom, restroom, and fire evacuation signs. Outdoors, they may include street signs, bus numbers, and store signs. Depending on the level of visual impairment, just identifying where signs exist can be a challenge. Using Microsoft\u27s HoloLens, an augmented reality device, I designed and implemented the TextSpotting application that helps those with low vision identify and read indoor signs so that they can navigate text-heavy environments. The application can provide both visual information and auditory information. In addition to developing the application, I conducted a user study to test its effectiveness. Participants were asked to find a room in an unfamiliar hallway. Those that used the TextSpotting application completed the task less quickly yet reported higher levels of ease, comfort, and confidence, indicating the application\u27s limitations and potential in providing an effective means to navigate unknown environments via signage