Smart Glasses For Visually Impaired People

Project Title

Smart Glasses For Visually Impaired People

Project Area of Specialization Internet of ThingsProject Summary

This project (Smart Glasses for Visually Impaired People) would be a program able personal assistant to help blind and visually impaired people. The project aims to create such an IOT based device “wearable glasses” having multiple features integrated with Google Assistant Google Vision API and OpenCV. These days the ability to track objects has improved drastically during the last decades; however, it is still considered a complex problem to solve. For Object tracking, Google Cloud Vision API will be used as an Object Detection algorithm and for assistant Google Assistant API, OpenCV will be implemented via python. OpenCV is used for selection of object representation, object features, methods for object detection, and methods for tracking the object over succeeding frames. Following technologies such as Raspberry Pi, Pi camera and for implementation python language will be carried out. Our project goal is to create Real Time Communication, Google Home Services and Virtual Guide to Impaired people

These Visual impairment present severe consequences on certain capabilities related to visual function:

• The daily living activities (that require a vision at a medium distance).
• Communication, reading, writing (which requires a vision closely and average distance).
• Evaluation of space and the displacement (which require a vision far). The pursuit of an activity.

Project Objectives

Objective:

The main objective of these glasses is to provide a reliable, cost effective, low power solution for visually impaired people which would help them to move almost like any other normal person. The cost of this system makes it affordable for the majority of the visually impaired. These glasses will improve the quality of the life of visually impaired people.It is a personal assistant that is modified to perform different actions:

• Object detection.
• Text reading and other functions according to the command.
• The output of the different actions will be an audio signal(Instruction to User)

Project Implementation Method

Our proposed visual substitution system is based on the identification of objects around the blind person. We propose a system that recognize and locate 2D in the video. This system should find the invariant characteristic of objects to viewpoint changes, provide the recognition and reduce the complexity of detection.

Smart eyewear(Glasses) design depends mainly on the processing unit, which is the raspberry pi 3 in this case. The main hardware is a Linux based ARM processor that accepts a micro SD card and thus allows us to increase the number of task functions as we wish.

A raspberry pi camera is used for image acquisition. It must be connected to the raspberry pi 3 using a flex cable, and was fixed on the top middle of the glasses for live continous optimal image capturing. The raspberry pi has an audio port which connects to earpiece with a micro speaker The raspberry pi GPIO port was con?gured to receive input from push button switches.The general principle of operation for such glasses is by giving instructions via switches and listening to the output through an earpiece. Similarly in this case, the user starts the task mode by asking a command with the help of Google Assistant embedded in raspberry pi. For text recognition mode, oject identification and detection or asking any question from the web as Google Assistant is used for, the output result will be depending on what user asks from personal assitant, can be object detection, any text detection or a simple question ,TP-Link Archer T1U AC450 Wireless Nano USB WiFi Adapter is used for internet connectivity wirelessly with Raspberry Pi 3, portable Power Bank for providing a constant power(Voltage) to Raspberry Pi 3.

Benefits of the Project

Benefits:

While this type of technology might seem like a luxury for most people, it is worth asking: can smart glasses be used to improve the lives of visually impaired individuals? The idea of restoring sight might have once seemed like science fiction, but thanks to smart glasses, this is now becoming reality.

Exact numbers are hard to come by but according to the US National Federation of the Blind, over 7 million Americans are blind or visually impaired, while according to the World Health Organization there are 285 million visually impaired individuals worldwide. In the US, people who are considered legally blind have central visual acuity less than 20/200 in the better eye with the best possible correction.

While a Phase I clinical study recently published in Nature Biotechnology has reported a therapy to improve sight in two visually impaired patients, the procedure is likely years away from becoming standard practice. How can smart glasses be used in the meantime to help the millions of people with visual impairments?

A pair of smartglasses that give blind people the ability to see. That’s amazing enough

Smart glassess are so effective that in some cases the previously blind person may have the best sight in the room when wearing them.

It provides many advantages in this aspect:

• Lower operational costs.
• Greater operational efficiency.
• Enhanced productivity.
• Improved health and safety.
• Reduction in routine tasks or those with no added value.
• Remote in-service inspections.
• Increased on-the-job learning.

At this point of time, smart glasses are used more behind the curtains for the things we usually do not think about so much. 

The truth is, more and more companies are turning their efforts to developing smart glasses. In return, numerous enterprises are integrating smart glasses into their processes and workflow.

In the future, you can most probably customize your smart glasses to fit precisely what you want and to be exactly right for your needs. If you need to wear prescription glasses to correct your vision, then you can have prescription lenses made for your smart glasses. Or if during the warm seasons you don’t want to leave the house without your sunglasses, you can have tinted glasses installed that would merge with the technology.

In short, smart glasses have the potential and applicable use cases to make our lives (and work) more efficient and convenient in so many different ways. Technology will keep progressing and it is probably only a matter of time until smart glasses will be a normal part of our everyday lives.

Technical Details of Final Deliverable

This would be a program able personal assistant to help blind, and visually impaired people.

This project aims to create such an IOT based device having multiple features integrated with Google Assistant, Google Vision API and  OpenCV

This approach is far better than previous related works on smart glasses, object detection and obstacle detection in these terms:

• Project goal is to create Real Time Communication, Google Home Services and  Virtual Guide to Impaired people. For this we need a Raspberry Pi 3 Model as a central processing unit for the project 
• TP-Link Archer T1U AC450 Wireless Nano USB WiFi Adapter is used for internet connectivity wirelessly with Raspberry Pi 3, to connect the Google Cloud with Pi 3
• A Raspberry pi camera is used for image acquisition. It must be connected to the raspberry pi 3 using a flex cable, and was fixed on the top middle of the glasses for live continous optimal image capturing
• A portable Power Bank for providing a constant power (Voltage) to Raspberry Pi 3, for safety purpose of Device
• A peice of Glasses for wearing
• Output will be given on audio signal on Mini Speaker
• A SD card for storage to save all the code and instructions.

Final Deliverable of the Project Hardware SystemCore Industry MedicalOther Industries Manufacturing , Health Core Technology Internet of Things (IoT)Other Technologies Artificial Intelligence(AI), Wearables and ImplantablesSustainable Development Goals Good Health and Well-Being for People, Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure, Sustainable Cities and CommunitiesRequired Resources

Item Name	Type	No. of Units	Per Unit Cost (in Rs)	Total (in Rs)
			Total in (Rs)	52200
Raspberry Pi 3	Equipment	2	11000	22000
Pi Camera	Equipment	2	8000	16000
Micro SD Card	Equipment	2	1100	2200
TP-Link Archer T1U AC450 Wireless Nano USB WiFi Adapter	Equipment	2	3000	6000
Portable Power Bank	Equipment	2	1200	2400
Mini Speaker	Equipment	2	1100	2200
Jumpers and Wires	Equipment	2	500	1000
Glasses	Miscellaneous	2	200	400