Teleguidance-based remote navigation assistance for visually impaired and blind people—usability and user experience

Abstract

This paper reports the development of a specialized teleguidance-based navigation assistance system for the blind and the visually impaired. We present findings from a usability and user experience study conducted with 11 blind and visually impaired participants and a sighted caretaker. Participants sent live video feed of their field of view to the remote caretaker’s terminal from a smartphone camera attached to their chest. The caretaker used this video feed to guide them through indoor and outdoor navigation scenarios using a combination of haptic and voice-based communication. Haptic feedback was provided through vibrating actuators installed in the grip of a Smart Cane. Two haptic methods for directional guidance were tested: (1) two vibrating actuators to guide left and right movement and (2) a single vibrating actuator with differentiating vibration patterns for the same purpose. Users feedback was collected using a meCUE 2.0 standardized questionnaire, interviews, and group discussions. Participants’ perceptions toward the proposed navigation assistance system were positive. Blind participants preferred vibrational guidance with two actuators, while partially blind participants preferred the single actuator method. Familiarity with cane use and age were important factors in the choice of haptic methods by both blind and partially blind users. It was found that smartphone camera provided sufficient field of view for remote assistance; position and angle are nonetheless important considerations. Ultimately, more research is needed to confirm our preliminary findings. We also present an expanded evaluation model developed to carry out further research on assistive systems.

Helping Helpers: Supporting Volunteers in Remote Sighted Assistance with Augmented Reality Maps

“…For example, BeMyEyes [4] is a free and afordable RSA service with over 0.3 million blind and low-vision users and 5 million sighted volunteers worldwide [3]. However, their nonproft volunteering ofers no guarantee of service availability or quality [20,34,36]-sighted volunteers only receive calls during the daytime [5] and are not required to have any training in orientation & mobility (O&M) [32,67,76]. In contrast, Aira [15], a paid RSA service that operates primarily in the US and other English-speaking countries, provides a higher quality service with trained sighted agents who are always available [6,62], but is less afordable (i.e., costing $40 to $60 USD per hour).…”

Impact of a Vibrotactile Belt on Emotionally Challenging Everyday Situations of the Blind

“…We assume that the constant north signal of the belt enables also blind participants to get feedback on their body orientation and rotation and the direction of their movement during outdoor navigation and thus leads to the feeling of increased confidence and security. Previous research that investigated a teleguidancebased smart cane [16] or vibration information around the waist [35,39] also reported a positive emotional impact on blind participants. At the same time, participants do not have to handle the device actively, they just experience the continuous vibration as intuitive feedback about their body rotations.…”

“…There is a variety of aiding devices for the visually impaired, most notably the white cane (e.g., [9,10]), navigation applications for the smartphone (e.g., [11,12]) and auditory compasses [13][14][15]. Further developments of the white cane enable obstacle detection also from a greater distance [16][17][18]. In science, the field of sensory substitution takes this a step further by trying to substitute visual information in its entirety through other senses and thus enabling blind people to have a kind of visual experience (e.g., [19][20][21][22][23][24]).…”

An Outdoor Navigation Assistance System for Visually Impaired People in Public Transportation

“…On the other hand, the majority of works focused on outdoor navigation are GPS-based systems, others are internet of things (IoT), artificial vision, inertial sensors, and a digital camera integrated into smartphones [5], [17]- [25]. Lima et al in [5] developed a mobile application that allows users to walk from one landmark to another, which provides them assistance in the use of public transport.…”

“…Taher et al [24] presented a systematic analysis of the recently developed systems for urban navigation of visually impaired people. For his part, Babar et al [25] presented a teleguidance-based navigation assistance system for the blind and the visually impaired. It is based on a smartphone camera attached to their chest and uses this video to guide them through indoor and outdoor navigation scenarios using a combination of haptic and voice-based communication.…”