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Project ID:

SCEN02305

The ObstaSense - An Intelligent Obstacle Avoidance Electronic Travel Aid for Visually Impaired Individuals

Project Title:

Category:

Science and Engineering

Inventors:

Ng Khai Le, Ngeu Chee Hau@Yeo Chee Hau, Leong Kah Meng, Kang Eng Siew, Chan Bun Seng, Siew Zi Yang, Tung Khai Yen

Institution/Company:

Southern University College

Invention Description/ Abstract:

In 2023, around 2.2 billion people globally have near or distance visual impairment. People with visual impairments have difficulty navigate to places and avoid obstacles. In response to these challenges, this research proposes an ETA called The ObstaSense, which aims to design a wearable obstacle avoidance and assistive navigation aid for visually impaired individuals and to integrate a voice assistant. The ObstaSense is 3D printed and designed to function accurately in both daylight and low-light conditions with infrared light source, indoors or outdoors. It features an obstacle avoidance technology with Tensorflow 2 object detection API, precise Real-Time Navigation (RTN) with voice assistant, and 4G LTE communications. Overall, the obstacle avoidance system, RTN, and 4G LTE connectivity functions combine to make the ObstaSense the most user-friendly and distinctive ETA for navigation and safety for visually impaired individuals. It suits the visually impaired individuals, elderly, and people with cognitive or amnesia disabilities. It’s also aligning well with the SDGs 3 and 10, which promotes healthy lives and well-being through independent navigation, reduces inequality, and incorporates to Malaysia’s Industry 4.0 program.

Invention Technical Description

The obstacle avoidance system incorporates TensorFlow SSD MobileNet v2 model on a Raspberry Pi 5. It identifies objects including people, cars, lamp poles, drains, bicycles, and motorcycles and informs the users of the obstacles on their path. The Raspberry Pi Camera Module V3 captures images and the trained model is used to process these images and generate detection results. The dataset that was used in training the model was split into training, validation, and test sections in order to achieve high levels of accuracy when identifying obstacles. Furthermore, the RTN is possible to navigate to 5 daily needs destinations: toilet, mosque, home, bus stop, restaurant. The RTN tracks navigation paths in the real world using a camera and gives users with real-time navigational instructions via acoustic speakers, allowing users to safely go from one location to another. The RTN features a voice assistant with TTS and STT capabilities that users can interact with by speaking directly to the MEMS microphone within three seconds through voice commands. The ability of searching for the nearest relevant destinations coordinates and paths using keywords with Openroute Service’s API without specific the exact name of the destinations with a search radius ranging from 0km to 1km, it eliminates the need for users to remember the location’s name, thus making the navigation process even more intuitive and efficient, and enhancing user’s navigation experiences. The Hotlink 4G LTE SIM card makes it possible that ObstaSense is always connected to the API servers for data monitoring and communication in real-time, accomplished by the Lilygo T-A7670G ESP32 MCU.

Demostration/ Presentation Video

Poster/ Broucher/ Invention Photo

Video Link

Poster Link

Additional Documents

> Additional Technical Document
> Additional Photo of the Invention
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