Description
ABSTRACT
Generally, blind people use a traditional cane for moving from one place to other. Although, white cane is the international symbol of blindness, it could not help them to detect place and to avoid obstacles. In this paper, we represent a model of walking stick for blind people. It consists of Arduino, ultrasonic sensor and buzzer. This stick can detect place and obstacles. Position detection part is done with ultrasonic sensor. ultrasonic sensor is used for detecting obstacles. Here, the buzzer produces two types of sound. When the blind faces any obstacles, buzzer buzzes discontinuously. By hearing this two types of sound, blind can be confirmed about his destination and also can avoid obstacles in front of him. The whole system is designed to be small, light and is used in conjunction with the white cane so that it could ensure safety of the blind.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
TITLE PAGE
APPROVAL PAGE
DEDICATION
ACKNOWELDGEMENT
ABSTRCT
TABLE OF CONTENT
CHAPTER ONE
- INTRODUCTION
- BACKGROUND OF THE PROJECT
- PROBLEM STATEMENT
- AIM AND OBJECTIVES OF THE PROJECT
- SIGNIFICANCE OF THE PROJECT
- SCOPE OF THE PROJECT
- METHODOLOGY
- PROJECT ORGANISATION
CHAPTER TWO
LITERATURE REVIEW
2.0 LITERATURE REVIEW
2.1 OVERVIEW OF BLINDNESS
2.2 REVIEW OF THE STUDY
2.3 DESCRIPTION OF ARDUINO
2.4 DESCRIPTION OF IR SENSOR
2.5 THEORY OF IR SENSOR OPERATION
2.6 THEORY OF BUZZER/SPEAKER
2.7 THEORY VIBRATION MOTOR DRIVER
CHAPTER THREE
DESIGN METHODOLOGY
3.1 SYSTEM BLOCK DIAGRAM
3.2 DESCRIPTION OF THE SYSTEM BLOCK DIAGRAM
3.3 SCHEMATIC DIAGRAM
3.4 SYSTEM OPERATION
3.5 COMPONENTS LIST
3.6 CIRCUIT DESCRIPTION AND CONNECTIONS
3.7 CIRCUIT WORKING PRINCIPLE
3.8 SYSTEM PROGRAMMER
CHAPTER FOUR
RESULT ANALYSIS
4.1 CONSTRUCTION PROCEDURE AND TESTING
4.2 ASSEMBLING OF SECTIONS
4.3 PACKAGING
4.4 MOUNTING PROCEDURE
4.5 TESTING
4.6 RESULT ANALYSIS
4.7 COST ANALYSIS
CHAPTER FIVE
5.0 CONCLUSIONS, RECOMMENDATION AND REFERENCES
- CONCLUSIONS
- RECOMMENDATION
5.2 REFERENCES
CHAPTER ONE
1.0 INTRODUCTION
Eyes are the most important sense organ of human. We perceive up to 80 per cent of all impressions by means of our sight. According to the 2014 statistics of World Health Organization, 285 million people are estimated to be visually impaired worldwide, 39 million are blind and 246 have low vision. The people with low vision or no vision suffer from various problems. Mobility and orientation are two of them (JismiJohnson et al., 2017). The traditional and oldest mobility aids for the blind are the white cane and guide dog. As white cane is the international symbol of blindness, the visual presence of white cane helps to understand others that the user is blind. It also helps the blind to reach destination and avoid obstacles in ground but it could not protect him from all level of obstacles. On the other hand, Guide dog is able to detect and analyze complex situations: cross walks, stairs, potential danger, know paths and more. But guide dogs are still far from being affordable, around the price of a nice car, and their average working time is limited, an average of 7 years. So these traditional mobility aids have many drawbacks.
1.1 BACKGROUND OF THE PROJECT
A number of navigation systems for aiding the blind have been developed already. This developed system can be categorized into two groups. The first group is Electronic Travel Aids (ETAs) and the second group is Electronic Orientation Aids (EOAs). ETAs are designed to create a safe journey by detecting obstacles using ultrasonic and proximity sensor (JismiJohnson et al., 2017).
An arduino blind stick with ultrasonic and proximity sensor for detecting obstacle was developed (Ramarethinam et al., 2014). It used stereo camera and dual feedback system. Another system for detecting obstacles was created (ShubhanAdhe et al., 2014). It was a wheeled stick. When it detected obstacles, it automatically steered around and made the user to follow the obstacles free path without any conscious effort.
1.2 PROBLEM DEFINITION
There is approximately 36.9 million people in the world are blind in 2002 according to World Health Organization. Majority of them are using a conventional white cane to aid in navigation. The limitation in white cane is that the information’s are gained by touching the objects by the tip of the cane. The traditional length of a white cane depends on the height of user and it extends from the floor to the person’s sternum. Blind people also face great problems in moving from place to another in the town and the only way for them is Guide dogs which can cost about $20, 000 and they can be useful for about 5 – 6 years. They also have a great problem to identify the objects he frequently used in his house as kitchen tools and clothes (JismiJohnson et al., 2017). And also he may face a great problem in control his electric devices or have a security problem and he can’t face it. This work is aim at solving these problems. To help the user moving easily indoor and outdoor we’ll use ultrasound sensor to detect the barriers on his way and alert him by 2 ways vibration motor which speed increases when the distance decreases and voice alert told him the distance between him and the barrier. To solve the problem of moving outside home from place to another we’ll design a software to be used in smart phones to help him in moving from place to another with voice orders without any external help he just say the place he want to go then the phone will guide him with voice orders to arrive this place. To help him to identify the objects we’ll use RFID every important object will have tag or ID, when the reader read the ID it will told him what it is by voice. Inside the home we’ll design a system to control all electronic devices by voice orders and also a security system designed especially for them. The most important of it is the fire alarm when it detects a fire it will alert him by a call to his mobile phone and another call to his friends near him for help and also a security system to warn him if he forget to close his door.
1.3 AIM AND OBJECTIVES OF THE PROJECT
AIM
The aim of the study is to build a smart blind walking stick using arduino which capable of detecting any obstacle, detect water and corners and even allow the user to find the stick if anyhow missed by the user by pressing a remote switch.
OBJECTIVES
This study seeks to achieve the following objectives:
- To develop an aid prototype for visually impaired persons.
- To ensure safe walking of the blind.
- To help the blind to reach his destination safely and securely.
- To create a cheap and comfortable mobility aid for the blind.
1.4 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE PROJECT
The device is designed with an intention to sort out common issues faced by the blind people while using traditional sticks. With the electronics embedded within the stick, it became a smart stick with the functionalities mentioned above.
This system is designed especially for any kind of visual impaired persons: blind, partially sighted, and people with progressive loss of vision. This system will give a lot of benefits to the visually impaired individuals especially for those who have financial problem. According to the researcher Deepika, Malaysia has around 60,000 visually impaired individuals and 28,000 of them had registered as a blind and applied to get the help from the welfare provided in Malaysia. This mean that the number of visually impaired individuals that have financial problem had covered more than half in the total number of impaired visually individuals and this is reason why the system provide is cheaper and affordable by most of the impaired visually individuals (Deepika et al., 2010).
More than that, this system able to provide the distance of the obstacles in front of visually impaired individuals by using sensor of the Kinect. It also able delivers the visually impaired individuals the existing direction to help them headed to the right direction. With the system provided, the visually impaired individual able walk at the corridor safety since the system developed is able to guide them along the corridor by providing the information of the surrounding along the corridor. With the system developed the visually impaired individuals also able to improve their own ability or less dependent to the help of other people while walking along the corridor. The reason why the visually impaired individuals can improve themselves into a more independent individual is because the system able to help them in finding the direction while they are walking at the corridor. Hence, the visually impaired person able to move likes a normal person in their daily lifestyle (Deepika et al., 2010).
1.5 SCOPE OF THE PROJECT
In this present study, an ultrasonic blind walking stick is developed. It is developed as a place detecting device. By using this stick, blind person will be confirmed that, he has reached the place where he wanted to go. It is easy to maintain and very comfortable to use. Power consumption of this stick is low and can be operated easily. Moreover, it is fully automated. This stick also enables to detect obstacles in user’s way by using an IR sensor. So, it is very helpful for the blind to reach his destination safely.
Arduino UNO is a micro controller board based on the ATmega328 (datasheet). It has 14 digital input/output pins (of which 6 can be used as PWM outputs), 6 analog inputs, a 16 MHz ceramic resonator, a USB connection, a power jack, an ICSP header, and a reset button. It contains everything needed to support the micro controller. The Arduino module, IR sensor and buzzer all are connected with it.
Electro mechanical buzzer is used for creating two different types of buzzing sound. It is an audio signaling device which is identical to an electric bell without the metal gong. It functions by means of an electromagnet. When an electric current is applied, it produces a repetitive buzzing or clanging sound. A relay may be connected to interrupt its own actuating current, causing the contacts to buzz. Often these units were anchored to a wall or ceiling to use it as a sounding board.
For detecting obstacles, IR sensor is used. The IR LED transmits the IR signal on to the object and the signal is reflected back from the surface of the object. The reflected signals are received by an IR receiver (LDR). Both the LED and LDR consume 3.5Volt power.
1.6 METHODOLOGY
To achieve the aim and objectives of this work, the following are the steps involved:
- Study of the previous work on the project so as to improve it efficiency.
- Draw a block diagram.
- Test for continuity of components and devices,
- Design and calculation for the device was carried out.
- Studying of various component used in circuit.
- Construction of the circuit was carried out.
- Finally, the whole device was cased and final test was carried out.
1.7 PROJECT ORGANISATION
The work is organized as follows: chapter one discuss the introductory part of the work, chapter two presents the literature review of the study, chapter three describes the methods applied, chapter four discusses the results of the work, chapter five summarizes the research outcomes and the recommendations.
CHAPTER FIVE
5.1 CONCLUSION
From the performance of the developed blind stick, the following conclusions are drawn: The value of latitude and longitude after 2 spaces from the decimal point changes frequently. Sometimes, it starts to buzz after a few distances from the predefined location. But it does not a problem because the error is only a few centimeters. The area of the location point can be easily detected with it. Obstacles detection zone is very small. It can’t detect obstacles which are out of 45° from the direction of the stick.
5.2 RECOMMENDATION
A simple, cheap, configurable, easy to handle electronic guidance system is proposed to provide constructive assistant and support for blind and visually impaired persons. The system is designed, implemented, tested, and verified. The real-time results of the system are encouraging; it revealed an accuracy of 93% in detecting different shapes, materials, and distances. The results indicate that the system is efficient and unique in its capability in specifying the source and distance of the objects that may encounter the blind. It is able to scan areas left, right, and in front of the blind person regardless of its height or depth. Therefore, it was favored by those who participated in the test. The IR sensor has been fully utilized in order to advance the mobility of the blind and visual impaired people in safe and independent way. This system does not require a huge device to be hold for a long distance, and it also does not require any special training. This system also resolves limitations that are related to the most of the movement problems that may influence the blind people in their environment. We recommend that the future work will be focused on enhancing the performance of the system and reducing the load on the user by replacing the speaker’s tune by real human sound to guide the blind exactly. Moreover, shape detection test for objects that move at different rotational speeds across several distances will further be considered.
