Mark Riccobono, executive director of the National Federation of the Blind'sJernigan Institute, drives the Virginia Tech Blind Driver Challengevehicle through an obstacle course of traffic cones on a campus parkinglot. In the passenger seat is Greg Jannaman, who led the student teamwithin the mechanical engineering department during the past year, and ismonitoring the software of the vehicle. Credit: Steven Mackay, VirginiaTech A student team in the Virginia Tech College of Engineering is providingthe blind with an opportunity many never thought possible: The opportunityto drive. A retrofitted four-wheel dirt buggy developed by the Blind DriverChallenge team (http://www.me.vt.edu/blinddriver/) from Virginia Tech'sRobotics and Mechanisms Laboratory uses laser range finders, an instantvoice command interface and a host of other innovative, cutting-edgetechnology to guide blind drivers as they steer, brake, and accelerate.Although in the early testing stage, the National Federation of theBlind -- which spurred the project -- considers the vehicle a majorbreakthrough for independent living of the visually impaired. "It was great!" said Wes Majerus, of Baltimore, the first blind person todrive the buggy on a closed course at the Virginia Tech campus thissummer. Majerus is an access technology specialist with the NationalFederation of the Blind's Jernigan Institute in Baltimore, a research andtraining institute dedicated to developing technologies and services tohelp the blind achieve independence. Majerus called his drive a liberating experience, adding that he drovebefore on Nebraska farm roads with his father as a guide in the passengerseat. Sitting inside the vehicle, a blind driver can turn the steering wheel,stop and accelerate by following data from a computing unit that usessensory information from the laser range finder serving as the 'eyes' ofthe driver, in addition to a combination of voice commands and a vibratingvest as guides. A member of the Virginia Tech student team sat next toMajerus in the passenger seat to monitor the system's software operations. "It's a great first step," Majerus added. "As far as the differencesbetween human instructions and those given by the voice in the BlindDriver Challenge car, the car's instructions are very precise. You use thetechnology to act on the environment -- the driving course -- in a veryorderly manner. In some cases, the human passenger will be vague, "turnleft" -- does that mean just a small turn to the left, or are we going forlarge amounts of turn?" Also driving the vehicle was Mark Riccobono, also of Baltimore, theexecutive director of the Jernigan Institute, who also is blind. He calledhis test drive historic. "This is sort of our going to the moon project,"he said In 2004 Jernigan Institute challenged university research teams to developa vehicle that would one day allow the blind to drive. Virginia Tech wasthe only university in the nation to accept the nonprofit's call two yearslater, said Dennis Hong, director of the Robotics and MechanismsLaboratory, part of the Virginia Tech mechanical engineering department.The National Federation of the Blind provided a $3,000 grant to launch theproject. "I thought it would be a very rewarding project, helping the blind," saidHong, the current faculty adviser on the project. "We are not only excitedabout the vehicle itself, but more than that, we are excited about thepotential of the many spin-off technologies from this project that can beused for helping the blind in so many ways." The team will bring the Blind Driver Challenge vehicle to the NationalFederation of the Blind's Youth Slam summer camp event held July 26through Aug. 1 in College Park, Md. There, the team hopes to haveteenagers who would be obtaining their driver's licenses, but cannotbecause of their blindness, drive the buggy. Wesley Majerus, an access technology specialist with the NationalFederation of the Blind's Jernigan Institute, finishes driving theVirginia Tech Blind Driver Challenge vehicle around a roped-off drivingcourse on a campus parking lot. The experience, he said, was liberating. Youth participants also are expected to remote control drive miniaturecars. Additionally, the car is expected to ride in a National Federationof the Blind-sponsored parade in Washington D.C. "I most look forward to learning as much as I can from these bright youngstudents," said Greg Jannaman, who led the Virginia Tech student team inhis senior year and graduated in May with a bachelor's degree inmechanical engineering. "Blind students from across the nation apply to beselected to attend this summer camp. While we are there to provide aneducational experience for them, I can only imagine the invaluablefeedback and fresh new ideas that they will provide in return." Jannaman is excited about the vehicle's success. "There wasn't a moment'shesitation with any of our blind drivers, whereas blind-folded sighteddrivers weren't as quick to let go of their preconceptions," said Jannamanof Hendersonville, Tenn. "The blind drivers actually performed better thantheir sighted counterparts. An overwhelming sense of accomplishmentovercame me as I simply rode along while Wes and Mark successfullynavigated the driving course without my assistance." Early models of the Blind Driver Challenge vehicle relied more ontechnologies for fully autonomous vehicles, previously developed byVirginia Tech mechanical engineering students as part of the DARPA UrbanChallenge. The student team redesigned the vehicle so that the blindmotorist has complete control of the driving process, as any sighteddriver would. This change in approach led to new challenges, including how toeffectively convey the high bandwidth of information from the lasersensors scanning the vehicle's surrounding environment to the driver fastenough and accurate enough to allow safe driving. As a result, the teamdeveloped non-visual interface technologies, including a vibrating vestfor feedback on speed, a click counter steering wheel with audio cues,spoken commands for directional feedback, and a unique tactile mapinterface that utilizes compressed air to provide information about theroad and obstacles surrounding the vehicle. Riccobono knows of mock ups and non-working "blind driver car" set-upsfrom the past, but says this is the first working vehicle to put the blindand visually impaired in control of the steering wheel. "Blind people havebrains, the capacity to make decisions," he said. "Blind people want tolive independent lives, why would they not want to drive?" Even once the technology is perfected, laws now barring the blind fromdriving and public perception must be changed, Riccobono said. "This isthe piece that we know will be the most difficult," said Riccobono, addingthat the car must be near-perfected before the National Federation of theBlind can truly push the car to law-makers and the general public. He saidthis effort will take millions of dollars in development. The 2009-10 student team already is planning major changes to thetechnology, including replacing the dirt buggy vehicle with a fullyelectric car commonly used by traffic officers in downtown city centers.The all-electric vehicle would reduce the vibration which can causeproblems to the laser sensor, and it will provide clean electric power forthe computing units and that is better for the environment. Source: Virginia Tech (news : web)
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
