The broader impact/commercial potential of this project will be that a successful navigation assistive device designed from the study of 3D haptic feedback will enable the blind and visually impaired more mobility, which can translate to more employment opportunities and improved quality of life. Beyond this market, the design of haptic 3D navigation technology will have applications in fields that require situational awareness, particularly in fields where the visual and auditory senses can be overwhelmed or temporarily obstructed such as with first response, military, and search and rescue. There are also applications in immersive entertainment applications.
This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project aims to perform a feasibility study into assistive navigation technology based on 3D sensors coupled with haptic vibration to provide individuals information of their surroundings. The blind and visually impaired communities are underserved by infrastructure, and especially experience difficulty when it comes to navigating new places both indoors and outdoors. To this end, modular discreet wearable haptic devices are being designed and evaluated to provide the wearer navigation information. The intellectual merit of this project lies in the study of how, where, and what number of locations haptic feedback can be used to convey detailed and crucial 3D information to the body. This will be achieved through experiments in real world settings and virtual environment testing.
The blind and visually impaired communities are underserved by current infrastructure, and especially experience difficulty when it comes to navigating new places both indoors and outdoors. Lack of mobility limits a blind or visually impaired person’s employment and education opportunities, leading to a diminished quality of life and limited impact on society. By enhancing mobility for the blind and visually impaired, we can not only increase their engagement in society, but provide them a greater sense of independence as well. In this Phase I project, Vista Wearable has designed wearable 3D sensors that provide haptic feedback to the body, providing the visually impaired wearer a sense of their surroundings without touching them directly. By using haptic feedback that relates 3D information to the body, we achieve (1) improved mobility by providing the wearer cues to objects that may be missed by the white cane, (2) a way of communicating one’s surroundings discreetly without distracting the wearer’s other senses, and (3) a modular device that can be worn in locations most suited to the individual’s needs. To create a device that was most useful to the blind and visually impaired, we performed experiments to determine the feasibility of haptic vibration as a dynamic feedback to the skin. First, we conducted a body location vibration discrimination test to study if subjects were able to distinguish vibration from different body locations. Second, we performed a vibration pattern discrimination test to study if subjects were able to distinguish different vibration pattern on their left wrist. Results indicated that both sighted and non-sighted individuals could reliably use haptic feedback on different parts of the body as a means of relaying information. Using the results from these experiments, we are now developing a small wearable device that can be worn on different parts of the body by the blind and visually impaired to aid in mobility. This device utilizes Bluetooth Low Energy to enable the user to control haptic intensity and receive additional information by using their smartphone. We have begun testing this device with blind and visually impaired users with favorable feedback so far. We will use these results going forward to further develop prototypes that would be commercialized in a Phase II project. Developing a concrete understanding of haptic feedback interpretation by both sighted and non-sighted people opens up this technology to serve as a new display technology. Such a technology could have impacts beyond the assistive technology market as a non-visual and non-auditory display for communication and situational awareness.
