The white and red cane used by the blind could soon become a thing of the past, if a blind navigation device that students of the Veermata Jijabai Technological Institute (VJTI) at Matunga are working on, is successful. The portable device works on a system that combines an obstacle detection system using stereo vision. The device, which is in the testing stage, is expected to be ready for launch during the technological festival of the institute Technovanza in December. According to Uday Agarwal, media coordinator for Technovanza, the project was started by former students last year as part of their project work. “In simple language, the device consists of cameras mounted on spectacles that will send feeds of the terrain to the handheld computing device. The device will convert the video files into stereo signals that will be sent to vibrators attached to the body of the blind person. The vibrations will warn the wearer of the device of obstacles in front of them, thus allowing him to navigate (walk) without meeting with a mishap,” said Agarwal. “The results are heartening, but there is a lot of work that needs to be done on it for making it a commercially viable proposition,” said Agarwal.
