Affiliation:
1. Department of Industrial Design, Guangdong University of Technology, Guangzhou 510090, China
Abstract
Most navigation aids for visually impaired individuals require users to pay close attention and actively understand the instructions or feedback of guidance, which impose considerable cognitive loads in long-term usage. To tackle the issue, this study proposes a cognitive burden-free electronic travel aid for individuals with visual impairments. Utilizing human instinctive compliance in response to external force, we introduce the “Aerial Guide Dog”, a helium balloon aerostat drone designed for indoor guidance, which leverages gentle tugs in real time for directional guidance, ensuring a seamless and intuitive guiding experience. The introduced Aerial Guide Dog has been evaluated in terms of directional guidance and path following in the pilot study, focusing on assessing its accuracy in orientation and the overall performance in navigation. Preliminary results show that the Aerial Guide Dog, utilizing Ultra-Wideband (UWB) spatial positioning and Measurement Unit (IMU) angle sensors, consistently maintained minimal deviation from the targeting direction and designated path, while imposing negligible cognitive burdens on users while completing the guidance tasks.
Funder
the Humanity and Social Science Youth Foundation of the Ministry of Education of China
the Guangzhou Science and Technology Planning Project
the Humanity Design and Engineering Research Team
the Quality Engineering Project of Guangdong University of Technology
Subject
Electrical and Electronic Engineering,Biochemistry,Instrumentation,Atomic and Molecular Physics, and Optics,Analytical Chemistry