With Robotic Eyes
Computer World
Scientists are working on a system that will help the
blind navigate; apparatus integrates robotic
technology and auditory signal processing
Frank Dellaert and Bruce Walker show prototypes of
their System for Wearable Audio Navigation (SWAN) that
could help the blind, fire-fighters and soldiers
navigate in unknown territories
Imagine being blind and trying to find your way around
a city youve never visited - a challenging task even
for a sighted person. Now US researchers at
Georgia Tech have worked on a wearable computing
system called the System for Wearable Audio Navigation
(SWAN) designed to help the visually impaired,
fire-fighters, soldiers and others navigate their way
in unknown territory.
An unusual collaboration
Frank Dellaert of Georgia Tech College of Computing
and Bruce Walker of Georgia Techs School of
Psychology and College of Computing combined their
respective
areas of expertise - determining location of robots
and audio interfaces - on a project that would assist
the blind.
Dellaerts artificial intelligence research focuses on
tracking the location of robots and developing
applications to help them determine where they are
and where they need to go.
Using our technology, we can also effectively locate
a person with global positioning system (GPS) data,
and we have a working prototype using computer
vision to see street-level details, such as light
posts and benches, says Dellaert.
Walkers expertise in human-computer interaction and
interface design includes developing auditory
technology that indicates data through sonification
or sound.
One of our challenges has been designing sound
beacons that can be easily understood by users such as
fire-fighters and soldiers in low visibility
situations,
says Walker.
SWAN System Overview
The current SWAN prototype consists of a laptop PC
worn in a backpack, a tracking chip, GPS sensors, a
digital compass, a head tracker, four cameras and
light sensor, and special headphones called bone
phones.
The researchers selected bone phones because they send
auditory signals via vibrations through the skull
without plugging the users ears an especially
important feature for the blind, who rely heavily on
their hearing.
The sensors and tracking chip, worn on the head, send
data to the laptop which computes the users location
and the direction he is looking in.
It accordingly maps the travel route, then sends 3-D
audio cues to the bone phones to guide him along a
path to the destination.
The 3-D cues sound like they are coming from about a
metre away from the users body, in whichever
direction the user needs to travel.
The sound application schedules sounds to reach one
ear slightly faster than the other, and the human
brain uses that timing difference to figure out where
the sound originated.
SWAN consists of two types of auditory technologies
navigational beacons where the SWAN user walks
directly toward the sound, and secondary sounds
indicating
nearby items of possible interests such as doors,
benches and so forth, says Walker.
Future research
Since GPS does not work indoors, the researchers next
step is to transition SWAN from outdoors-only to
indoor-outdoor use. Also, the research team is
currently revamping SWAN to run on PDAs and cell
phones.
There are plans to commercialise the SWAN technology
after further refinement, testing and miniaturising of
components for the consumer market.
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