What is our project about?
Through this Making and Tinkering project, we hope to make a device that will aid the visually impaired in increasing their mobility. When we cross the road, we make use of the pedestrian traffic light to know when to halt or proceed. For the visually impaired, there are beeping sounds that help them to know when it is a red man or a green man on the pedestrian traffic light. However, not all the traffic lights have these cues for the visually impaired. At times, the beeping sounds are absent and there is a lack of non-visual cues for the visually impaired.
We hope that we can create an image recognition device that can help the visually impaired increase mobility, especially with regards to crossing the road at a traffic junction. The device would be placed on the chest area, with the camera facing the pedestrian light. The camera attached to the device will identify where the traffic light is and then use machine learning capabilities to recognise if it is currently a green man or red man on the pedestrian traffic light. A vibration will be sent to the user through the cane to alert them; the red and green man would each have differentiated vibration patterns.
Vision
The group hopes that this device we create will help the visually impaired be more independent when crossing the road. We want to make this device affordable so that the masses can make use of it without financial barriers.