Vehicle Boarding Guidance Using Skeleton and Wind Cues
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Solution Overview
Problem
Autonomous vehicles lack the capability to provide safe boarding and alighting guidance for visually impaired individuals, as they do not compare body information with the vehicle's vertical levels, leading to potential collisions during transportation.
Innovation Solution
A vehicle boarding/alighting guiding device that collects occupant body information, determines the arrival location, and provides relative information and wind notifications to ensure safe boarding and alighting by analyzing skeleton information and vertical level differences.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If autonomous vehicle provides basic door open/close notification, then automation level is maintained, but safety for visually impaired occupants deteriorates due to lack of body information analysis
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces complex mechanical safety systems with sensor-based detection and software analysis. Skeleton information is extracted from camera images through image processing algorithms, and body information (knee vertical level, shoulder width) is derived computationally to guide visually impaired occupants safely board the vehicle without requiring physical mechanical guides or barriers.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces wind as an intermediary element to convey safety information to visually impaired occupants. The wind generation device creates airflow that pushes occupants away from dangerous areas (bumper, roof) toward safe boarding zones, serving as a physical mediator that translates digital body information analysis into tangible sensory guidance for the occupant.
2Measurement precision
If autonomous vehicle collects and analyzes skeleton information, then guidance accuracy for visually impaired people improves, but information processing requirements increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts only the essential skeleton information needed for safety guidance from the complete image data. Specifically, it identifies and processes only the knee vertical level and shoulder width parameters from the skeleton model, discarding other unnecessary body part information. This selective extraction reduces computational load while maintaining the precision needed for safe boarding guidance.
3Reliability
If autonomous vehicle provides comprehensive boarding guidance, then safety for vulnerable occupants improves, but notification complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent employs pneumatic principles by using wind generation to provide physical tactile guidance to visually impaired occupants. The wind acts as a pneumatic signal that intuitively pushes occupants toward safe areas without requiring complex auditory or visual notification systems. This simplifies the notification system while maintaining high safety effectiveness through direct physical sensation.
Data Source
AI summary
A method for guiding boarding/alighting of a vehicle includes collecting body information of an occupant when the occupant approaches the vehicle, determining an arrival location of the vehicle based on a location of the occupant, and providing relative information as a notification based on the body information of the occupant.