Bioinspired electronic white cane implementation based on a LIDAR, a tri-axial accelerometer and a tactile belt

Pallejà Cabrè, Tomàs; Tresánchez Ribes, Marcel; Teixidó Cairol, Mercè; Palacín Roca, Jordi

doi:https://doi.org/10.3390/s101211322

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Issue date

2010

Author

Pallejà Cabrè, Tomàs

Tresánchez Ribes, Marcel

Teixidó Cairol, Mercè

Palacín Roca, Jordi

Abstract

This work proposes the creation of a bioinspired electronic white cane for blind people using the whiskers principle for short-range navigation and exploration. Whiskers are coarse hairs of an animal's face that tells the animal that it has touched something using the nerves of the skin. In this work

the raw data acquired from a low-size terrestrial LIDAR and a tri-axial accelerometer is converted into tactile information using several electromagnetic devices configured as a tactile belt. The LIDAR and the accelerometer are attached to the user’s forearm and connected with a wire to the control unit placed on the belt. Early validation experiments carried out in the laboratory are promising in terms of usability and description of the environment.