Robotic Technology Puts the Blind in the Driver's Seat

There’s more to driving than meets the eye. That’s the lesson a group of students at Virginia Tech University recently learned as part of a project to develop a vehicle that puts blind and visually impaired people in the driver’s seat.

 

Students at the university’s Robotics and Mechanisms Laboratory took on the task to design a vehicle that gives blind drivers control of the steering wheel and other aspects of driving. It’s all part of the Blind Driver Challenge, Virginia Tech’s answer to an initiative proposed by the National Federation of the Blind.

 

Virginia Tech University’s effort is the latest use in a growing market of robotic technology.

 

The team retrofitted a four-wheel dune buggy, shown below, which uses non-visual driver interfaces, such as an audio system, a tactile map and laser range finders to direct drivers as they maneuver the vehicle, Wtop.com reported. A vibrating vest is attached to the inside of the driver’s seat belt, which relays information such as speed and heading. Laser sensors, which scan the area around the vehicle, also convey important pieces of information to guide drivers.

 

For example, a click counter on the steering wheel tells drivers when to turn with spoken commends offering direction, while a tactile map that uses compressed air offers drivers road and obstacle information, Wtop reported.

 

“Blind people have brains, the capacity to make decisions,” Mark Riccobono of the Jernigan Institute said in a statement. “Blind people want to live independent lives. Why would they not want to drive?”

 

A video showing how the dune buggy works is available here.

 

The Blind Driver Challenge will reportedly make its next stop at the National Federation of the Blind's Youth Slam summer camp for teens July 26 through Aug. 1 in College Park, Md. Eventually, the Virginia Tech team plans to replace the dirt buggy with an all-electric car, similar to what traffic officers now use, UPI.com reported.

 

While the dune buggy may be the first recent example of how robotics can help the visually impaired, other technology helps the blind better communicate. As SDNzone reported, Verizon Wireless is helping visually impaired customers navigate their mobile phone services by providing audio feedback for messaging, dialing and other tasks. TALKS services offers voice-to-text translation with a new assistive technology that converts displayed text into “highly intelligible” speech.

 

 

 

 

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