Abstract:
Blindness is a medical condition that requires approaching life in different ways. Unfortunately blindness still
lacks proper care in the world. Many investigations have been carried out to facilitate the self-sufficient
movements for the blind. The basic elementary instrument used is the traditional white cane. Many electronic
travel aids have been introduced to the global market. However, more consideration is required for drawbacks
of high cost, less user friendliness and less accuracy in these electronic travelling aids. Overcoming the
challenges for visually impaired victims this article proposes a low cost ultrasonic based smart blind walking
stick. This is a technological upgrade to the traditional white cane normally used by the blind. This device
assists the victims to walk more confidently and independently. Most of the visually impaired belong to the low
income community. Hence the main consideration was developing this device with Low cost and best
achievable performance. This design for the visually impaired is integrated with a water sensor and ultrasonic
obstacle detection sensors. The different obstacle conditions namely; mud puddles, low lying objects,
ascending stairs, descending stairs and head high obstacles can be effectively and accurately detected. Early
warning of danger is conveyed to the user due to the feature of wide obstacle detection range. The user is
alerted by unique fingertip vibrations and sound patterns corresponding to the relevant user alert. The
innovative design of the stick enables more compatibility and a wider obstacle detection range for the device
with high accuracy. The low cost achievement of this design is outstanding with a total cost of less than 30 US
dollars which can be further reduced in mass production.
