Smart Guide Stick

Project Title

Smart Guide Stick

Project Area of Specialization Computer ScienceProject Summary

Project Summary

Blind people frequently face various challenges in their daily life routine. The behaviors of the blind people affect greatly in limiting their activities due to eyesight loss. In order to feel safe while moving, the blind people need some kind of aid. The Smart Guide Stick is the smart solution for visually impaired and blind people to overcome mobility barriers. The aim of this Smart Guide Stick intends to reduce the issues of the hindered individuals using a Raspberry Pi, ultrasonic sensor, camera, buzzer and battery. When the blind person faces an obstacle in his/her path, the camera shall detect the object and identify it. The ultrasonic sensor is used to help calculate the distance between the obstacle and the blind person. After the identification of the obstacle, the blind person shall convert the image in the audio speech. The speech is then sent to the person via Bluetooth and headset. The buzzer generates the beep depending on the distance between the obstacle and the object. The object detection is done by the coco dataset which is a trained dataset. The camera detects and speech the document based on the closest placed obstacle. We are using the python language on a PyCharm software for object detection. Although, many current technologies are present to resolve the issues of the blinds. However, the Smart Guide Stick is a novel approach in the area of blind/visually impaired people. This Smart Guide Stick is less sensitive to environmental noise and relatively inexpensive and small enough to be accommodated on a walking stick. The ultrasonic sensor is capable of sensing radius and provide results with accuracy. It is easy to use, low-cost and feasible enough to deploy in outdoor as well as indoor environments. Our aim is to design and develop a technological solution for the visually impaired people to navigate freely in their surroundings.  The assistive solution to overcome visual impairment problem is the smart guide stick.

Project Objectives

Project Objectives

• To develop a multi-purpose system for visually impaired people.
• To provide a smart navigation through which they shall steer clear of the objects such as chair, potholes, tables, electric poles etc.
• To provide an assistance so that blind people shall find their paths by themselves, minimizing the dependency upon the people’s help.
• To reduce the daily basis accidents of colliding with objects.
• The system shall calculate the distance of the objects and indicate the one which is nearest to the stick’s vision.
• The device shall guide the blind person to detect obstacle with the assistance of image or video through object detection and inform the user via voice command.
• This technology shall improve the daily routine of visually impaired people.
• To maximize the probability of blind people to go out on their own and enjoy their life.
• To provide hand-held object detection device that shall work as an aid for sightless individual by providing a sight of artificial vision to observe the details of environment around them.
• The system shall detect the object nearest to the camera not the one which are far away to avoid confusion.
• To commercialize the product, we need the funds.

Project Implementation Method

Project Implementation Method

In this project, we are utilizing Raspberry pi, ultrasonic sensor, camera, buzzer, battery, stick and headset. The existing system shall connect all the components to the Raspberry pi which acts as the central controller of the system. The ultrasonic sensor helps calculate the distance between the object and the person. The sensor shall send the signal to raspberry pi if the object is within the range of 2-3 meters. The camera is used for the detection of objects faced by blind people in their path to avoid collision.

Requirement Gathering

This first phase of the project involves understanding what need to be designed and what are its functions.

System Design

This phase studies the requirement specifications from the first phase and prepares the system design. System design helps in the specification of hardware and system requirements and the definition of overall system architecture. The software code for the next stage is being written right now.

Implementation

The system is first developed in small programs called units, with input from system design, and then integrated into the next phase. Unit testing is conducted on each unit that is developed.

Integration and Testing

After each unit has been tested, all of the units developed during the implementation phase are integrated. The designed system must undergo continuous testing to determine any flaws or errors. Testing is performed to ensure that the client does not face any problems while utilizing the system.

Deployment of System

After completing functional and non-functional testing, the product is deployed in the customer environment or released to the market.

Benefits of the Project

Benefits of the Project

Expected Outcomes:

This Smart Guide Stick with the help of camera shall guide the blind people. It detects the object and then tell the person through audio on headset. The ultrasonic sensor shall calculate the distance from the obstacle and the buzzer warns the person. It shall guide the person after which the person can divert accordingly.

Key Benefits and Beneficiaries:

• Key Benefit:

It shall help blind person to move anywhere with Smart Guide Stick.

It shall overcome the daily struggle of object collision and find clear path.

It shall make them independent.

The system shall detect the obstacles through computer vision and ultrasonic sensors.

• Beneficiaries:

All blind people.

People with weak eyesight.

Technology Transfer/Diffusion Approach

The Smart Guide Stick shall help people to travel freely where they want to travel. The ultrasonic sensor is used to detect the obstacle in the path and the camera shall identify the obstacle with machine learning algorithms. The sensor then calculates the distance between object and person. Based on the distance calculation, an audio sound is generated to command the person to change the direction in order to avoid collision with object. This process shall keep going on until the blind person reaches his/her destination.

	Features	Ultrasonic Sensor to detect nearest object	Object Detection with Camera	Audio Voice Speech	Bluetooth Connectivity	Buzzer
	WeWalk Smart Cane	?	×	×	×	?
Products	Phoenix Smart Cane	?	×	×	×	?
	AssisTech Smart Cane Device	?	×	×	×	×
	Smart Guide Stick	?	?	?	?	?

Smart Guide Stick’s comparison with some of the smart cane stick which are available in the market.

 

Products

Technical Details of Final Deliverable

Technical Details of Final Deliverable

In this modern era of artificial intelligence and computer vision, image processing has become one of the most famous inventions in computer science.

In this Smart Guide Stick, we have an ultrasonic sensor mounted on the bottom half of the stick while the camera is on the upper half. The camera shall detect the obstacle in front of it, and the ultrasonic sensor shall calculate the distance and identify the obstacle nearest to the camera. A battery will be used to supply power for the system, and a Bluetooth headset will be connected to a system that shall transmit the audio voice command of the nearest obstacle.

Application:

1. Object and human detection
2. Image and video processing.
3. Voice command.
4. Realtime caution about obstacle in front
5. Calculation and the identification of nearest object to the device
6. Detection of object within 2meter of distance.

Hardware:

1. Raspberry Pi 4 Model B
2. Raspberry Pi Camera
3. Buzzer
4. Ultrasonic sensors
5. Bluetooth headset/handsfree
6. Lithium Battery
7. Fuse
8. Connecting wires

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

Elapsed time in (days or weeks or month or quarter) since start of the project	Milestone	Deliverable
Month 1	Literature Review and research	Initial research and collection of the information about the project and Reports of related work.
Month 2	Functional and Non-functional Requirements	Features and Functionalities.
Month 3	Planning	Contains the following sections: Detailed Functional Specifications ofeach Module of the Smart guide stick Detailed Feature Requirements - GanttChart of high level project tasks. It Should identify the different phases of the life cycle and deliverables as milestones.
Month 4	Diagram and flowchart of project	It contains the following sections: Use cases, ERD, Flow chart, architectural diagram and logo prototyping.
Month 5	Implementation of code	the overall object detection program will be ready to integrate.
Month 6	Poster	It consists of Risk Analysis and Project Poster.
Month 7	Financial Model	Proposed Budget estimation and Business Canvas.
Month 8	Hardware integration	In this milestone, the complete integration of hardware will be done with code of object detection and smart guide stick will be able to function.
Month 9	Testing & Quality Assurance	It contains the following sections: Test Environment (including specification of hardware, object detection code and trained dataset. Integration Test result, Usability Test results.
Month 10	Deployment	After completing functional and non-functional testing, the product is deployed in the customer environment or released to the market.
Month 11	Fully Functional Smart Guide stick	A complete smart guide stick will be available to be utilization.
Month 12	Complete Report	The Complete report shall be ready.