Wearable Tactile Feedback Device for Blind Navigation
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing assistive technologies for the blind and low-eyesight individuals, such as voice guide systems, face challenges in noisy environments and may lead to hearing loss over time, and they lack adaptability in various settings, limiting their usability.
Innovation Solution
A wearable device equipped with a scanning means that converts object information into tactile information using a tactile prompting system, allowing users to receive information through touch, and optionally includes voice prompting and voice receiving capabilities, enabling richer tactile feedback and adaptability in different environments.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If voice guide systems are used to assist blind and low-eyesight individuals, then information can be conveyed to users, but the system becomes less reliable in noisy environments and may cause hearing loss over time
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a tactile prompting means as an intermediary channel between the scanning means and the user. This tactile interface converts visual scanning information into tactile feedback that can be perceived through touch, providing a reliable alternative to auditory communication that is not affected by noise or hearing degradation
Solution Approach 2:
The patent replaces the acoustic field (voice guidance) with a tactile field (mechanical stimulation). The tactile prompting means uses mechanical vibrations and movements on the user's skin to convey information, substituting the mechanical/acoustic system with a purely tactile system that bypasses the auditory pathway
2Adaptability or versatility
If voice prompting is added to provide richer feedback, then adaptability improves, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent makes the tactile prompting means multi-functional by enabling it to deliver various types of information through different tactile patterns (vibration frequency, amplitude, duration, spatial location). This single tactile interface can convey navigation instructions, object identification, and environmental information, providing adaptability without requiring multiple separate devices
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The wearable device provides convenient and adaptable assistance by converting object information into tactile feedback, enhancing usability for the blind and low-eyesight individuals in various settings without relying on auditory cues, thus reducing environmental limitations and potential hearing-related issues.
Implementation Method 1
a tactile stimulator for performing a tactile stimulation on a corresponding region of a tactile sensitive part of the user based on the coding information
Implementation Method 2
an infrared sensing unit for detecting a position and type of an object in a scanning region
Implementation Method 3
a distance sensing unit for detecting a distance of the object in the scanning region
Data Source
AI summary
The present invention relates to a wearable device and a control method, the wearable device including: a scanning means configured to scan an object to obtain a scanning information; a tactile prompting means coupled to the scanning means and configured to convert the scanning information into a tactile information prompted to a user; and a wearing means configured to connect the tactile prompting means.