Title: An eyeglasses-like stereo vision system as an assistive device for visually impaired

Authors: Kai Wun Lin; Tak Kit Lau; Chi Ming Cheuk; Yunhui Liu

Addresses: Department of Mechanical and Automation Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, New Territories, Hong Kong ' Department of Mechanical and Automation Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, New Territories, Hong Kong ' Department of Mechanical and Automation Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, New Territories, Hong Kong ' Department of Mechanical and Automation Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, New Territories, Hong Kong

Abstract: Over the past 20 years, different electronic devices have been developed to assist visually impaired avoid obstacles. However, these devices fail to get the favour from them as similar information can be obtained from a white cane already. In this paper, we present a wearable stereovision device that composes of an eyeglasses and an embedded system. Comparing to other travel aids, our system not only can help avoid obstacles but also stream real-time video to mobile phone over 3G networks. A healthy sighted individual can make use of the live video feed to provide guidance to a visually impaired user when losing direction. Besides, the imaging devices are mounted inside an eyeglasses which greatly reduces the form factor and more favourable to the visually impaired who prefer not to stand out in public. And through a series of parallel programming techniques, we can also achieve real-time stereo-matching on images synchronised with FPGA for depth recovery with our embedded system.

Keywords: stereo vision systems; visually impaired; eyeglasses; live video; 3G networks; FPGA; field-programmable gate arrays; parallel programming; stereo matching; glasses; spectacles; obstacle avoidance; embedded systems; video streaming; real-time video; mobile phones; cell phones; assistive devices.

DOI: 10.1504/IJMA.2014.059772

International Journal of Mechatronics and Automation, 2014 Vol.4 No.1, pp.17 - 26

Received: 22 Oct 2012
Accepted: 12 Nov 2013
Published online: 17 Jun 2014 *

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