Worldwide, more than 250 million people are currently visually impaired. For the visually impaired, going out independently can be a considerable challenge. Not only does it need to identify and avoid obstacles, but it also needs to make autonomous pathfinding and navigation judgments based on the location information of obstacles.
When it comes to navigation for the blind, transportation tools such as navigation dogs or crutches will immediately appear in everyone’s mind. But the navigation dog is too expensive, and the crutch is too simple.
Recently, a student team at Stanford University combined AI technology to develop an intelligent crutch to help the blind walk, setting off a significant revolution in crutches. At present, the algorithm has also been open-sourced. Interested friends can search for it.
Stanford University students come up with a blind crutch that will lead the way
The change brought about by the crutches for the blind is to apply the technology of autonomous driving to the crutches for the blind so that the blind can walk faster, recognize the surrounding environment, and achieve autonomous obstacle avoidance and navigation.
In this cane for the blind, the Stanford student team added the following sensors to assist in the operation of the cane
LiDAR: Helping blind people detect the shape and environment of surrounding objects
GPS: You can know the specific location when you are outdoors
IMU: know the specific walking posture of the blind
Visual sensor: Combined with LiDAR, do SLAM mapping
Science Robotics
Among them, I believe everyone is familiar with this LiDAR, which is the RPlidar A1 of SLAMTEC.
The application of RPlidar A1 can be used to help blind people detect the shape of surrounding objects and the surrounding environment, and combine SLAM algorithms and visual sensors to perform SLAM obstacle avoidance and navigation.
Science Robotics
Obstacle Avoidance
The RPlidar A1 emits laser light through continuous rotation, receives the laser light back, calculates the distance from the obstacle to the current one, and senses the existence of the obstacle.
Autonomous Navigation and Localization
By using laser SLAM, it is possible to avoid obstacles when the presence of obstacles is sensed, autonomously find its way and navigate, and achieve intelligent movement.
RPlidar A1, as the first low-cost LiDAR sensor by SLAMTEC, has made a good start for SLAMTEC’s position in the industry. With the continuous development of the market and the continuous advancement of technology, the full range of LiDAR from SLAMTEC has many applications not only in household robots but also in commercial mobile robots. Promote the development of the intelligent industry.
More RPlidar applications that you may not know.
Stay tuned…