Haptic Technologies to Assist Visually Impaired Individuals in Shopping Situations
Open Access
Author:
Ocneanu, Clara Adrienne-ming
Area of Honors:
Information Sciences and Technology
Degree:
Bachelor of Science
Document Type:
Thesis
Thesis Supervisors:
Mary Beth Rosson, Thesis Supervisor Andrea H Tapia, Thesis Honors Advisor
Keywords:
haptic haptic wristband visually impaired blind shopping tactile feedback white cane image recognition system
Abstract:
Haptic technology designed to assist users with everyday tasks has been developing rapidly over the past decade and now takes on a number of readily available commercial forms, including notable integration into video game controllers, smartwatches, and cell phones. While these devices mainly serve to augment an otherwise visual form of feedback, haptic technology can also be used to replace visual feedback for blind or visually impaired individuals. This paper examines both haptic research prototypes designed specifically to assist visually impaired users with certain tasks and commercially available haptic devices targeted towards sighted individuals. These haptic wristbands, haptic gloves and augmented white canes are compared based on several shared and distinguishing metrics. This paper then proposes two haptic system configurations that could assist visually impaired users with the tasks of navigating to a certain aisle of a grocery store, locating specific items within that aisle, and browsing the items contained within the shelves of the aisle. Finally, it discusses concerns related to privacy and the issues that camera placement pose when designing such a haptic system.