Haptic Spatial Guidance System for Visually Impaired Navigation
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Solution Overview
Problem
Visually impaired individuals face challenges in achieving independent mobility due to disorientation between reference points in familiar environments, often requiring guidance back to a previous reference point to reorient themselves.
Innovation Solution
A spatial guidance system using a receiver device and beacons to identify the user's position, determine the direction to a next waypoint, and provide continuous haptic feedback to orient the user through a haptic feedback system, eliminating the need for audio cues and enabling hands-free operation.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If audio cues are used for navigation guidance, then direction information can be provided to the user, but the user requires headphones or listening devices which complicates the system and reduces ease of operation
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces the acoustic field (audio cues through headphones) with a mechanical field (haptic feedback through tactile actuators). The haptic feedback system uses mechanical vibrations and forces applied to the user's body to convey directional information, eliminating the need for audio output devices and providing more direct, intuitive guidance.
2Productivity
If visually impaired individuals navigate using reference points in familiar environments, then they can achieve independent mobility, but they become disoriented between reference points requiring time-consuming reorientation
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements continuous haptic feedback that provides constant directional guidance between reference points, rather than intermittent audio cues. This continuous mechanical feedback maintains the user's orientation throughout the entire navigation process, eliminating disorientation events and the time lost to reorientation pauses.
Solution Approach 2:
The system uses real-time feedback through haptic actuators that continuously adjust the tactile signals based on the user's position relative to the destination. The feedback loop monitors navigation progress and dynamically modifies the haptic guidance to maintain optimal directional information, preventing disorientation before it occurs.
3Measurement precision
If beacons are placed throughout the environment to track position, then accurate location identification is achieved, but the system complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent employs smartphones or wearable devices that serve multiple functions: they act as haptic feedback actuators, position trackers, and navigation controllers simultaneously. By consolidating these functions into a single universal device, the system achieves accurate position tracking through beacon communication without proportionally increasing overall system complexity.
Data Source
AI summary
Method, systems, and apparatus to facilitate navigation in a known environment. Communication and tracking between a receiver device and one or more beacons are provided to identify a current position of the receiver device. A direction to a next waypoint of a current path is determined based on the identified current position and a haptic feedback system is signaled to provide continuous haptic feedback to orient a user in the identified direction.