Volume 11, Number 10, July 2021

An Object Detection Navigator to Assist the Visually Impaired
using Artificial Intelligence and Computer Vision

  Authors

Ethan Wu¹, Jonathan Sahagun² and Yu Sun³, ¹USA, ²California State University, USA, ³California State Polytechnic University, USA

  Abstract

The advent and worldwide adoption of smartphones has enriched the lives of many people. However, one particular group--the visually impaired--still need specific apps to help them with their daily lives. Thus, I’m developing this Smart app to specifically help the visually-impaired. Specifically, I hope to integrate the functions of Google Maps into the Smart App. While Google Maps functions well as a GPS for the average person without any impairment, I’m adding additional features to the Smart app so that it would guide the eye-sight impaired. For example, I will use the camera of the Smartphone to guide the user such that it would take the user to the desired destination. Thus, using the inherent functions (camera) of a phone, the Smart app can gently and safely guide any sight-impaired person to a predetermined destination by walking. One can think of Smart app as an improvement upon Google Maps -- for the visually impaired.

  Keywords

Object detection, Google Maps, iOS, Android.