Design and Implementation of a Walking Stick Aid for Visually Challenged People

Abstract

Visually challenged people (VCPs) face many difficulties in their routine life. Usually, in many cases, they need to depend upon others, which makes them unconfident in an unfamiliar environment. Thus, in this paper, we present an aid that helps in detecting obstacles and water puddles in their way. This system comprises a walking stick and Android-based applications (APPs). The walking stick is embedded with Raspberry Pi and programmable interface controller (PIC) as a control kernel, sensors, a global position system (GPS) module, and alert-providing components. Sensors help to detect obstacles, and the VCP is informed through vibrations or a buzzer according to the obstacle detected. The GPS module receives the coordinates of the VCP’s location, and the location can be tracked by parents using an APP. Another important APP is used, called an emergency APP, by which the VCP can communicate with parents or friends immediately by just shaking his/her cell phone or pushing the power button four times in 5 s in panic situations. We used fewer components to make the device simple, lighter, and cozy with very good features. This device will help VCPs to live an independent life up to some extent (with security), which ultimately will increase their confidence level in an unknown environment.