| Project Reference: | ITP/053/19LP |
| Project Title: | Robo-9: Sensor Fusion Technologies for Visually Impaired |
| Hosting Institution: | LSCM R&D Centre (LSCM) |
| Abstract: | Globally, there are approximately 1.3 billion people with some form of vision impairment of which 36 million are blind. Travelling independently can be a difficult and sometimes impossible experience for them. To improve mobility, there are some major kinds of tools and technologies. For instance, white canes are used to extend user's range of tactile sensation; Guide dogs are served as a pilot, taking instructions to move straight, left or right, navigating around obstacles, indicating alerts when necessary. However, they have no point-to-point navigation capability; GPS devices can assist people by providing orientation and navigation information, but this technology is not a replacement for white canes and guide dogs. In this respect, employing robot vision and multi-sensing for mobility assistance will be helpful. This project aims to develop a cost-effective robot vision and sensing solution for mobility assistance. Specifically, we will develop some technologies for the following aspects: 1. Obstacle avoidance and guidance: to implement important functionalities provided by guide dogs, and 2. Navigation and locationing: to provide walking guidance including free walking and target destination which is designed to be integrated to the blind community cloud platform. This project has been defined by a present need of the community, thereby need consideration of an ease-of-use solution. |
| Project Coordinator: | Dr Ka Lun Fan |
| Approved Funding Amount: | HK$2.79M |
| Project Period: | 01 Feb 2020 - 31 Jan 2021 |
