Smart Cane for Staircase and Water Detection

Abstract

The World Health Organization (WHO) reported that there are 285 million visually-impaired people worldwide. Among these individuals, there are 39 million who are totally blind. Blind people need some help in interacting with the society. Existing devices are able to detect and recognize objects that emerge on the floor, but a considerable risk is also includes when the objects that are at a sudden depth, or obstacles above waist level or stairs. The designed smart cane uses a single IR sensor to detect staircases and a water detection sensor is used to detect water pits. If there’s a staircase or a water pit, user will receive an alert as a form of audio voice output informing him whether the path is clear for him to safely walk forward. This project aims at the design and implementation of a detachable unit which is robust, low cost and user friendly, thus, trying to aggrandize the functionality of the existing white cane, to concede staircase and water pit detection. The smart cane was tested for its proper functioning while operating successfully in detecting staircases and water pits.