Meeting the brief Investigation Plan & Design Create Evaluation References Summary

Investigation

Research into the context of the brief, and existing solutions

There are many devices on the market to help vision impaired people navigate their world, from smart canes, text to speach readers to audio labels one can place onto objects to recognise them. Yet many of these simply lack the fluidity and are at the mercy of unpredictable nature of life, while most resources are spent helping people with such a disability adjust to life outside the house it is often overlooked how domestic activities require a finer level of control and precision.

Conduct research with potential end user(s) to understand their needs

The Requirements

    From talking to my great grandmother about her glaucoma (a visual impairement primarily affecting peripheral vision). She told me that her main difficulty was banging against things and hurting herself on half open cupboards and doors, but my device should also keep people with total blindness so me must find a solution that fits all their needs. From my research into existing solutions I also discovered why many devices similar to mine haven't reached popularity. Aside from the exorbitant prices they charge for a device simpler than mine they also don't give the user precise enough feedback, usually through vibration it is almost impossible to gauge distance reliably. Adding to this problem other devices on the market exclusively use one distance sensor, this gives the user no idea of the shape of an object or how close it is too either side of them. From this research I developped a few key points:

  • The device must be able to communicate the user's surroundings to them quickly and precisely. For example a quick warning sound as the user swings their arm to get something. This should help prevent them from hitting something outside of their narrowed or non-existant field of view.
  • The device must be less intrusive than a white cane and better suited to the more delicate yet complex indoor environement.
  • The device should be able to detect a collision and save the incidents date and telemetry for the users carer or family to view later (a suggestion mostly from talking to her carer and my grandad)
  • The auditory feedback must be intuitive and communicate the distance and angle of a surface or object.