Corridor-Walker: Mobile Indoor Walking Assistance for Blind People to Avoid Obstacles and Recognize Intersections

Abstract

Navigating in an indoor corridor can be challenging for blind people as they have to be aware of obstacles while also having to recognize the intersections that lead to the destination. To aid blind people in such tasks, we propose Corridor-Walker, a smartphone-based system that assists blind people to avoid obstacles and recognize intersections. The system uses a LiDAR sensor equipped with a smartphone to construct a 2D occupancy grid map of the surrounding environment. Then, the system generates an obstacle-avoiding path and detects upcoming intersections on the grid map. Finally, the system navigates the user to trace the generated path and notifies the user of each intersection's existence and the shape using vibration and audio feedback. A user study with 14 blind participants revealed that Corridor-Walker allowed participants to avoid obstacles, rely less on the wall to walk straight, and enable them to recognize intersections.