Prototype ultrasonic wayfinder with haptic feedback for an IOT environment

Pervasive computing and the Internet of Things (IoT) have stimulated the development of many new assistive devices. It is possible to incorporate sensors such as acoustic, inductive, capacitive, temperature, humidity, pressure, location, and many more. Haptic feedback provides a person with sensory information through the skin using vibration or force-feedback responses. Commercial organizations have moved very quickly into this design space, particularly Sunu (smart-watch), HandSight (cameras on glove), and others. Arduino and Raspberry Pi are examples of the computing platforms currently in use. Sonar or ultrasonic transducers enable the production of lighter equipment with improved functionalities. Sonar as a means of assistive navigation has been used extensively in maritime environments to detect animals (D'Amico and Pittenger, 2009, Evans and Awbrey, 1988). As an assistive technology, there are projects for the blind which upgrade their walking sticks with an ultrasonic sensor (Amemiya and Sugiyama, 2010).

Similar projects have been undertaken worldwide and most devices can only provide one or two designated functions. The size of the completed device is small enough to embed on a shoe, a walking stick, or on a wheelchair. A sonar sensor can detect something less than a meter from an individual user. This study uses a glove to attach a sonar sensor on a Raspberry Pi 0, whereas the Tacit glove (Hoefer, 2011) carries two sonar sensors with an Arduino controller actuating vibrating motors on a glove.