Smart Stick for Blind People

Nowadays, the tools to assist the visually impaired people have become very important because there is a huge amount of people who are waiting for some kind of thing which can help them with their daily life. These tools can be very helpful for them to walk to their desired places or desti

Project Title

Smart Stick for Blind People

Project Area of Specialization

Internet of Things

Project Summary

Nowadays, the tools to assist the visually impaired people have become very important because there is a huge amount of people who are waiting for some kind of thing which can help them with their daily life. These tools can be very helpful for them to walk to their desired places or destination and be safe from obstacles. The existing simple walking cane is not enough to assist and help the visually impaired individuals to detect the obstacles. It can also do nothing in case that if the blind gets in any sort of trouble or emergency. Blind people also have a huge probability of getting lost due to difficult routes, and there is also a huge chance of getting hurt by something in their way as they are unable to see.

To improve these limitations, this smart stick for visually impaired and blind people has been proposed which will help blind people to overcome their everyday problems as much as possible.

This smart stick will help them in detecting obstacles and it will be easier for them to walk and travel from one place to other such as their workplaces and shops.  The smart stick will detect the obstacles in three directions (front, left and right) and after detection, it will alert the blind by playing an alert audio in his ears with the help of earphones. The stick will also detect slope (stairs) and any pothole which comes in his way, and will give the alert to blind in the same way it gives in the case of obstacles, but by playing a different audio message according to the situation. 

This smart stick will also alert the blind with some enviromental or external factors like in case of detection of fire, water and dark enviroment, the stick will alert the blind through a voice message alert, with respect to the condition detected.

In case of any emergency, the blind can press a button which will a generate a "Call for help" message that will be sent to any of his relative's mobile number so that the relative can come to rescue him. In case of any emergency in which the blind gets unconscious, the stick will automatically send this message after a time interval of 60 seconds.

After receiving the alert message, the relative can find the blind with the help of a mobile application which will be connected with the GPS module connected with the stick. The location of the blind will be shown on that mobile application. This mobile application would be in use of any of the blind's friends or relatives. The user of the application can also perform some other operations like activating a buzzer in case the stick gets lost or like sending a "Come back home" alert to the blind in case that he gets late in returning back home.

Our main motivation is to serve the the people in need (blinds) through this project.

Project Objectives

The aims and objectives of the project are as follows:

• To help blind people detect objects or obstacles which come in their way.
• To avoid a blind person from collision with any sort of obstacle.
• To avoid a blind person from getting harmed or injured.
• To help visually impaired people to go to their desired location with less difficulties.
• To call for help in case of any blind or visually impaired person gets in some sort of trouble, difficulty or emergency.

Project Implementation Method

We did the implementation of this project step by step. First we gathered information about the equipments used in it like what sort of equipment it will require. After that, we bought the equipment and started working on it. We divided our project in two phases. In first phase, we did the work on the detection of obstacles with the help of three ultra sonic sensors placed in different directions. The detection of slope and pothole was also done with help of two ultra-sonic sensors, one placed at a certain angle and the other placed upside down to detect slope and pothole respectively. Other than this, we also worked on sending the emergency message through emergency button which was to be received on the mobile number of any of the blind's friends or relatives. The frame or the structure of the stick was also designed in the first phase on which all of the components of this projects were to be mounted..

The second phase includes the connection of GPS module to the stick for the purpose of finding the location of the blind, when needed. The working on mobile application is also the part of the second phase. Mobile application is designed for the purpose of showing the location of the blind on it and also to perform some other functionalities and also to show some important data. All the equipments were attached to the frame or structure of the stick which was designed in the first phase. The second phase is the final phase of the project which resulted in the completion of the whole project.

Benefits of the Project

The benefits of this project are mentioned as following:

• With the help of this project, occurring rate of accidents of blind people will reduce.
• It will be less likely for a visually impaired or blind person to get lost as they can call for help by sending their location through the emergency button.
• It will promote productivity and confidence among blind or visually impaired community as it will get easier for them to work and travel

Technical Details of Final Deliverable

All of the main functionalities will be handled with the help of an Arduino Nano.

The detection of the obstacles will be done with the help of 3 ultrasonic senors placed in 3 different  directions.

The detection of pothole will be done with the help of an ultrasonic sensor placed upside down.

The detection of a slope will be done with the help of an ultrasonic senor placed at a certain angle.

The message will be sent to the relative's mobile with the help of an API provided by sendpk.com.

The automatic sending of the emergency message will be done with help of a gyroscope which will detect the orientation of the stick and in case that the stick is dropped on the ground, it will wait for 60 seconds and then after that, will send the message.

The mobile application was designed on an IoT based application called "Blynk".

The location of the blind will be traced with the help of a GPS module.

The stick will connect to a Wi-Fi with the help of an ESP8266.

The audio messages for alerts will be stored in a memory card, mounted in MP3 player.

"Come Back Home" alert will be given to the blind with the help of a vibration motor.

By pressing a button on the mobile application (Blynk), a buzzer will start beeping in case the stick gets lost.

Soil moisture sensor, Fire sensor and LDR module will be responsible to detect the external factors like water, fire and dark environement respectively.

Final Deliverable of the Project

HW/SW integrated system

Core Industry

Manufacturing

Other Industries

Core Technology

Internet of Things (IoT)

Other Technologies

Sustainable Development Goals

Good Health and Well-Being for People, Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure, Reduced Inequality, Life on Land

Required Resources

If you need this project, please contact me on contact@adikhanofficial.com