Speaking Walking Stick Using GPS Interface

Abstract

Human beings are blessed with the perfect creation of body. Despite that, some people are not as fortunate as others are , since they suffer from natural disabilities or disabilities caused by accidents. Visual impairment is categorized as one of the most common disabilities. Luckily, there are various assistive technology that help in neutralizing their in ability to see . For years, visionless people have chosen to use the simple wooden stick as a tool for aiding their daily walking or life. The stick has been very useful to the blinds in assisting their movements in the various activities they perform throughout the day. Although the walking cane is able to guide the blind people in broad terms still thereare several weaknesses that can be enhanced to make the design better so that it is able to guide the blind in a more effective manner. One of the major weaknesses of the walking stick is that, it can only detect obstructions that come within the range of the length of the stick. Person comes to know about the obstruction only when the stick comes in direct contact with the obstruction. The main purpose of this project is to develop a smart speaking walking stick for the blind which detects the obstacle that is within the range of 400cm without touching it. By using a microcontroller and Raspberry Pi(a single board computer that contains SoC), a specific output is programmed for a specific range of distance between the user and the obstructions. The walking stick will speak to the user to warn him of any obstruction in its path.