Paper #2 : The User as a Sensor : Navigating Users With Visual Impairments in Indoor Spaces Using Tactile Landmarks

Summary
    The Computer Science department at the University of Nevada have developed a system called Navatar for assisting the visually impaired in indoor spaces which focuses on being cheaper and more easier to install by using cheap technology such as the technology used in most phones. The technology guides the visually impaired by having the user confirm landmarks such as doors and hallways. For example, the user will hold their phone to their ears and it will tell them "follow the left wall until you find a hallway". The user confirms when they've reached the hallway and then it'll proceed to " Follow the right door of the hallway until you've reached the second door". Examples like this will help the visually impaired navigate indoor spaces which have a confining infrastructure and therefore makes this a very good system for the impaired.



Related Work Not Referenced in the Paper

• RFID in Robot-Assisted Indoor Navigation for the Visually Impaired
• Drishti: An Integrated Navigation System for Visually Impaired and Disabled 
• RoboCart: toward robot-assisted navigation of grocery stores by the visually impaired
• Text Detection from Natural Scene Images: Towards a System for Visually Impaired Persons
• Independent Living for the Visually Impaired
• HAPTIC REPRESENTATION OF SCIENTIFIC DATA FOR VISUALLY IMPAIRED OR BLIND PERSONS
• Robot-assisted wayfinding for the visually impaired in structured indoor environments
• NavBelt and the Guide-Cane [obstacle-avoidance systems for the blind and visually impaired]
• Design and Implementation of Haptic Virtual Environments for the Training of the Visually Impaired
• The people sensor: a mobility aid for the visually impaired

All the papers listed are about assisting the visually impaired. I found that there was two completely different approaches that each of these ten papers are a variant of. Either they wanted to make robot and make sensors and robot vision work to guide the impaired around indoor spaces, or they'd use depth cameras and other specialized technologies to create interfaces which allow the inspired to use the sense of touch to see what was in front of them. They all seemed to revolve around expensive technologies

Evaluation

The researchers used Qualitative research. They had 11 subjects all of whom used the Navatar for 3 paths. If they could find the destination then it was written down as a pass, if they couldn't then it's a fail. It's objectively done. It's pretty systemic, They also looked at other variables and specific tests. So from the results they recorded they have created a myriad of data.

Discussion

I think this is a genuinely good idea. All the other Visual Impairment aids I've read about have been expensive and probably won't have the opportunity to be implemented in very many places. This system however uses lightweight sensors and is easy to install and is very accessible. All it requires is a smartphone from the user. If they can master the art, then this will be a very good technology indeed.