Scribd Logo
Upload

Welcome to Scribd!

  • Blind Driving

    Uploaded by

    anikhila67
    17 views1 page
    The document discusses a challenge by the National Federation of the Blind to design a system that allows blind people to drive. The Robotics and Mechanisms Laboratory at Virginia Tech accepted the challenge. They established the Virginia Tech Blind Driver Challenge as a senior design project to create prototypes that allow blind drivers to perform fundamental driving tasks like speed regulation, navigation, and collision avoidance through non-visual interfaces like a tactile vest, audio cues, vibrating gloves, and an interface that creates a physical map using compressed air.

    Original Description:

    Copyright

    © Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)

    Available Formats

    DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd

    Did you find this document useful?

    Is this content inappropriate?

    Report this Document
    The document discusses a challenge by the National Federation of the Blind to design a system that allows blind people to drive. The Robotics and Mechanisms Laboratory at Virginia Tech accepted the challenge. They established the Virginia Tech Blind Driver Challenge as a senior design project to create prototypes that allow blind drivers to perform fundamental driving tasks like speed regulation, navigation, and collision avoidance through non-visual interfaces like a tactile vest, audio cues, vibrating gloves, and an interface that creates a physical map using compressed air.

    Copyright:

    Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
    Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Flag for inappropriate content
    17 views1 page

    Blind Driving

    Uploaded by

    anikhila67
    The document discusses a challenge by the National Federation of the Blind to design a system that allows blind people to drive. The Robotics and Mechanisms Laboratory at Virginia Tech accepted the challenge. They established the Virginia Tech Blind Driver Challenge as a senior design project to create prototypes that allow blind drivers to perform fundamental driving tasks like speed regulation, navigation, and collision avoidance through non-visual interfaces like a tactile vest, audio cues, vibrating gloves, and an interface that creates a physical map using compressed air.

    Copyright:

    Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
    Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Flag for inappropriate content
    of 1

    Blind driving

    Many believe that driving is a task reserved solely for those who can see. However, researchers
    and innovators at the National Federation of the Blind (NFB) and Virginia Polytechnic Institute
    and State University (Virginia Tech) believe that there is more to driving than meets the eye. In
    an effort to promote the often underestimated capabilities of the blind and to inspire innovation
    in the development of blind access technologies, the NFB proposed a challenge to design a
    system capable of providing the blind with an experience never thought to be possible: the ability
    to drive. The Robotics and Mechanisms Laboratory (RoMeLa) at Virginia Tech has since been
    the only organization to accept the challenge. The Virginia Tech Blind Driver Challenge (BDC)
    was established as a senior design team and undergraduate research project within the
    Department of Mechanical Engineering.

    The team’s first prototypes of the vehicle were designed to demonstrate a blind driver’s ability to
    perform three fundamental driving tasks: speed regulation, navigation through a driving lane, and
    collision avoidance. The system scans the driving environment using a laser rangefinder. The
    data from the rangefinder is supplemented with information from additional sensors monitoring
    aspects of the vehicle state, like speed and steering angle. The driver then gains access to this
    information through various non visual driver interfaces developed by the RoMeLa team.

    The first nonvisual interface is a tactile vest, which vibrates motors in the driver’s seatbelt to
    provide information regarding speed regulation and emergency stop. Audio cues from a pair of
    headphones provide turn-by-turn directions to assist the driver with navigation. A pair of gloves
    called DriveGrip vibrates each finger to relay steering information to the driver. An interface
    called AirPix puts the rangefinder scan directly in the driver’s hands via a flat plate with a grid of
    orifices that create a physical map out of compressed air. The driver uses this map to explore
    their environment and make their own informed driving decisions.

    You might also like