Assistive Sensing With UAV and Haptic Feedback for Wider Navigation
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Solution Overview
Problem
Visually impaired individuals face challenges in sensing and navigating their environment effectively due to limitations in existing assistive technologies, which often rely on fixed sensors with limited fields of view and lack intuitive feedback mechanisms.
Innovation Solution
An assistive apparatus comprising a sensing device, processing device, and presentation device that uses sensors like UAVs, robotic ground vehicles, and wearable haptic arrays to collect and process environmental data, providing audio and haptic feedback to users, enabling comprehensive and intuitive navigation and interaction with the environment.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Area of moving object
If fixed sensors are used in existing assistive technologies, then the device structure is simple, but the field of view is limited
Solution Approach 1:
The patent employs movable sensors mounted on UAVs and robotic ground vehicles that can dynamically adjust their positions and orientations to scan and survey the environment from multiple locations and angles, transforming the static sensing capability into a dynamic multi-position sensing system that dramatically expands the effective field of view
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces aerial dimension sensing through UAVs in addition to ground-based robotic vehicles, adding a vertical dimension to the sensing system. This multi-dimensional approach allows sensors to capture environmental data from both aerial and ground perspectives, significantly expanding the observable area beyond what fixed ground sensors can achieve
2Loss of information
If multiple types of sensors are incorporated in cane or walking stick, then comprehensive environmental information is provided, but the device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent integrates multiple sensor types including cameras, LIDAR, ultrasonic sensors, and microphones into single multi-functional sensing units mounted on UAVs and robotic vehicles. These universal sensing platforms can perform diverse environmental sensing tasks simultaneously, providing comprehensive information while avoiding the complexity of distributing separate sensor systems across multiple devices
Solution Approach 2:
The patent combines multiple sensing modalities (visual, depth, acoustic, haptic) into integrated sensing systems that operate cooperatively. By merging these different sensor types into unified platforms, the system achieves comprehensive environmental awareness while reducing overall system complexity through centralized data processing and coordinated operation
3Productivity
If haptic arrays are used to present Braille-type messages in real-time, then information delivery efficiency is improved, but the device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces traditional mechanical Braille display mechanisms with electronically controlled haptic arrays that can dynamically generate tactile patterns. This substitution allows real-time reconfiguration of tactile feedback without mechanical moving parts, dramatically improving information delivery speed while the modular electronic architecture keeps system complexity manageable
Solution Approach 2:
The patent employs periodic scanning and refresh cycles in the haptic array system, where tactile feedback is delivered in rapid sequential patterns that create the perception of continuous information flow. This periodic operation enables high-speed information delivery by cycling through multiple tactile symbols in succession, effectively increasing productivity while using simple repeating patterns
Data Source
AI summary
An assistive apparatus for sensing the environment in the vicinity of a user, and provide feedback signals generated based on the sensing data to the user. The assistive apparatus includes a sensing device configured to collect data characterizing the environment, a processing device, including one or more processors, configured to process an input including the collected data into presentation data specifying an audio signal and/or a haptic signal, and a presentation device configured to deliver the audio signal or the haptic signal to the user.