Prototype Using Ultrasonic Sensor to Assist Visually Impaired Individual in the Philippines

Abstract

People who are visually impaired deals with number of difficulties when exercising the most basic things in daily life. Some are frequently rely on others, which makes them less confident in an unusual setting and some use tools like white cane or simple sticks, but for some cirsumstances these could put their lives at risk while traveling. Since the Philippines has limited access to technological resources that could reduce the risk, the researchers came up with the idea of using an ultrasonic sensor to detect obstacles that are above or in front of the user. The study aims to develop a functional prototype that helps visually impaired individual and determine how well the functional prototype responds to the needs of the blind individual. Utilizing a problem-based approach to problem solving, the Design Thinking Methodology was the methodology employed in this study. As a result, using different sound and vibration frequencies the prototype can identify minimum distances of 120 cm, 80 cm, and 30 cm as an output. The study concludes that a successful tool could be a design prototype that uses sensor-equipped sticks to assist blind individuals in moving around and increasing their awareness of their surroundings. However, the scope of this study is limited as it is unable to determine the material of the obstruction or whether a hole exists in front of the user because the tool used in this work can only detect barriers above and in front of the user.