i-Cane (get it?? ‘eye’-cane)

-Brian Loo (bloo)-Zane Starr (zcs)-Geeta Shroff (gshroff)

Concept

Intelligent Cane (i-Cane) Assistive technology for the visually

impaired Indoor navigation system Map loaded onto device through

Bluetooth RFID tagged path read by cane Communicated to user via text to

speech software on device

Motivation I

Some stats: 11 million people in USA with visual

related disabilities 2 million with severe visual impairment

Navigation & Independence – major problem area Indoor navigation vs Outdoor

navigation Especially in new buildings/places,

unfamiliar public areas

Motivation II

Now a visually impaired person has to be led around new environments until they are comfortable with the area.

With our system anyone may use voice prompts to lead themselves around an area which has been tagged.

Competitive Analysis “SWAN System”

Georgia Institute of Technology Navigation Prompts - ‘small’ laptop, GPS,

headphones, proton pack “iCane – A Partner for the Visually Impaired”

National Taiwan University Navigation Guide - White cane, PDA, RFID, Bluetooth

“Smart Cane” University of Malaya Obstacle detection – "bat technology" that sends out

ultrasound signals

Tech Specs

Gumstix (compact motherboard) Xm400-bt (w/ bluetooth module) MMC to store tag database

High Frequency RFID sensor 13.56 MHz

High Frequency RFID tags Passive (does not require batteries)

Bluetooth enabled headset

Functional Requirements

Download database and map via Bluetooth (want)

Receive command by voice to text (expect)

Reliably detects passive RFID tags (expect)

Determine location of tag through database (expect)

Provide directions by text to voice (expect)

Non-Functional

Read tags reliably with small (4”) antenna for portability

Search database for tag within 2 seconds

Perform route calculation within 2 seconds

Find shortest path to destination

Next steps

Talk to Dan again for further input Possibly look into other assistive

technologies Possibly take a different route