See discussions, stats, and author profiles for this publication at: https://www.researchgate.

net/publication/323714986

iWalk: Intelligent walking stick for visually impaired subjects

Conference Paper · November 2017

DOI: 10.1109/ICSIMA.2017.8312000

CITATION READS

1 784

3 authors, including:

Rashidah Olanrewaju
International Islamic University Malaysia
137 PUBLICATIONS   298 CITATIONS   

SEE PROFILE

Some of the authors of this publication are also working on these related projects:

Big Data and Cloud Computing View project

RESPONSIBILITY AND ACCOUNTABILITY OF MUSLIM ENGINEER View project

All content following this page was uploaded by Rashidah Olanrewaju on 08 August 2018.

The user has requested enhancement of the downloaded file.

 Proc. of the 4th IEEE International Conference on Smart Instrumentation, Measurement and Applications (ICSIMA)
iWalk: Intelligent Walking Stick for Visually
Impaired Subjects
Rashidah Funke Olanrewaju#1, Muhammad Luqman Azzaki Mohd Radzi#2, Mariam Rehab#3
#
Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, International Islamic University Malaysia, Malaysia
1frashidah@iium.edu.my, 2azzakiradzi@gmail.com, 3rehab.mariam4@gmail.com
Abstract—Visually impaired people find great difficulty in
moving around freely without a human guide, especially in a new
terrain. iWalk is an intelligent walking stick specially designed for
visually disabled individuals to improve and ease navigation.
iWalk uses ultrasonic and water sensors to detect obstacles and
water ahead. The water sensor integrated therein activates a
distinct buzzer if it detects water. The system comes with a wireless
RF remote control that uniquely sounds buzzier when pressed,
that helps in locating the stick in case it gets misplaced. The
efficiency of the proposed solution has been adequately tested on a
dataset composed of randomized locations with obstacles and
water. The proposed algorithm achieves an overall efficiency of
90% detection rate for water and ultrasonic sensor and 85.75%
for the RF wireless remote control.
Keywords—ultrasonic sensor; water sensor; wireless RF remote
control
I. INTRODUCTION
According to World Health Organization statistics [1], there
are around 285 million people who are visually impaired
globally, with 39 million blind and about 246 million have low
vision. The visually impaired people need help mostly to carry
out their daily lives’ routine, especially navigation. When
visually impaired subjects are in new or unknown places, the
most important thing for them is to know the road surfaces, the
position of the obstacle and other interference to enable a secure
and safe navigation. Meanwhile, some of these subjects use
guidance dogs or humans as a guide. However, this method is
expensive and very difficult to maintain. An alternative to dogs
and human guides is the use of a stick or cane to detect an object
without any prior information about the environmental
situation.
Although the visually impaired subjects use sidewalk path,
sometimes they go to recreational places where obstacles,
ponds and water puddles are commonly found along the route.
Furthermore, there are cases where the blind sometimes
misplace the walking stick, and that is kind of hard for them to
recover the stick even within their homes. Hence, an Intelligent
Ultrasonic Walking Stick is designed to guide the visually
impaired from road obstacles, water around and location of the
stick should it be misplaced. The walking stick is made up of
an ultrasonic sensor due to its reliability and outstanding
versatility. The devices are also tremendously robust so that it
can function even in the most terrible situation. The ultrasonic
sensor is the most suitable option to be integrated with the
walking stick to serve as traveling aid for visually impaired
people. Additionally, the walking stick comes with a remote
control, which is used to track and locate the misplaced stick.
28-30 November 2017, Putrajaya, Malaysia
Some researchers have developed walking stick in fulfilling
the blind navigation. Gayathri [2], proposed a smart walking
stick that can detect obstacles, pit, and water to help the blind
with less accident. Global Positioning System (GPS)
technology is integrated inside the walking stick to confirm the
most accessible route. In [3], authors proposed a low price 3D
ultrasonic walking stick for the blind people to attain personal
freedom. A portable stick is developed to detect obstacles using
ultrasonic sensors. GPS and SMS system also included in the
walking stick operation. SMS system is utilized by the blind to
send SMS message to the saved numbers inside the
microcontroller if there is an emergency. Although members of
the family will know the location of the person using the stick,
however, this technique has a delay while noticing the obstacles
between two to four seconds. The GPS has delayed getting the
position for the stick for about thirty seconds to one minute.
Also, GPS system is not suitable for interior as a result of the
GPS signal are too weak.
Another work in [4], a virtual eye for the blind to
enhance the quality of the visually impaired individuals in a
specific area. The virtual eye consists of wearable equipment
that are the head hat, mini hand stick, and foot shoes. The
central part of this method is the ultrasonic detector that is
employed to scan a preset area around blind person by emitting-
reflecting waves. A smartphone mobile application to help
visually impaired subjects walk independently using the
smartphone’s camera to alert them about obstacles along the
path was proposed in [5]. This application use built-in sensors
in the smartphones such as autofocus camera and
accelerometer. The other invention by authors in [6], in which
the use of wearable glove to ensure the blind can navigate alone
safely. The main component of this system is the ultrasonic
sensor which is used to scan direction by emitting reflecting
ultrasound waves.
Sonar walking stick designed by Furlan & Su [7] uses the
concept of bat echoes to enhance the quality of life for persons
with a visual impairment. Sonar walking stick uses Arduino
MiniPro to receive information from an ultrasonic sensor and
outputs object’s locations to the user through vibrational
motors. The device picks up the reflection of emitted sound
waves to map obstacles in the users surrounding. The sonar
walking stick will improve on a typical walking stick which
detects objects by moving the stick from side to side by adding
the mode of detection.
Bhardwaj and Singh [8] proposed a navigation system to
guide visually impaired people about an appropriate path. The
system uses infrared primarily based detection system and
sends back vibrotactile or sound (buzzer) feedback to inform
the user regarding its position. A detector module is
implemented on a lightweight weight cap to permit the user to
get information regarding obstacles and monitor the trail taken
by the blind. Improvement is still required for this system
including recognition type of barriers and size of the walking
stick.
II. METHODOLOGY
Fig. 1 shows the flowchart of obstacle detection and
classification. The ultrasonic sensor is used to detect two types
of obstacles - water and physical objects around the visually
impaired people. To design and develop a remote control to
locate the walking stick, a wireless RF remote control switch is
used.
Fig. 1. System operation flowchart
For the ultrasonic proximity sensors, a sonic transducer is
employed to permits the interchange transmission and gathering
of sound waves. The transducer emits the sonic waves which
are mirrored by an object and returned within the transducer.
The ultrasonic sensor will changes to receiver mode when
discharging the sound waves. The time elapsed between the
emission and reception of the waves is proportional to the gap
of the object from the detector.
As soon as the obstacle is detected, the microcontroller
checks if the barrier is close enough (100 cm from the user) to
prevent the passage of the blind subject. The microcontroller
used is a single chip consisting of a processor (CPU), non-
volatile memory for the program (ROM or flash), input and
output volatile memory (RAM), an I/O control unit and time
and a clock. This microcontroller is designed for a small set of
functions to regulate a specific system.
If the obstacles are close enough, both water sensor and the
ultrasonic sensor will detect the object. The buzzer will sound
differently according to the type of the barriers, whether it's in
liquid or solid form. The buzzer will do nothing when the
obstacles are not within the set range.
A. Ultrasonic Sensor
The ultrasonic sensor is connected to the Arduino UNO
board as shown in Fig. 2. The Vcc pin of the ultrasonic
transducer is combined with a 5V pin of Arduino board. The
ground pin connects the components. The trigger pin of the
ultrasonic sensor is connected to the pin number 12 of Arduino
while the echo pin of the sensor is linked with pin no number
10 of the Arduino board. For the buzzer, the positive terminal
is connected to the pin number 11 of the Arduino board, and the
negative terminal is connected to ground. The speaker will beep
faster if the object is closer to the sensor. The speed of the
beeping sound of the speaker can be adjusted by increasing or
decreasing the delay in the coding. For this research, the
ultrasonic sensor was set to detect an object 100 cm ahead of
the user. The buzzer will beep more frequently when the object
in the range is 60cm-70cm.
Fig. 2. Ultrasonic sensor and Arduino Uno connection
B. Grove water sensor
For the Grove water sensor as depicted in Fig. 3, the Vcc pin
of the sensor is connected to 3.3 V pin of Arduino. The D8 pin
of Arduino Uno is connected to SIG pin of the sensor. Both the
ground pins are connected. The water sensor was tested to
detect the presence of water on the surface of the floor. The test
for the water sensor involved walking with the walking stick
towards the puddle of water on the outdoor surface causing the
buzzer to sound rapidly.
Fig. 3. Integration of grove water sensor, Arduino Uno connections and
Wireless RF remote control switch
 The procedure diagram to connect the wireless RF remote
control switch with the receiver is shown in Fig. 4. E23A-12v
battery is the power supply for the receiver. By pressing A or B
button on the remote control, the receiver kit sounds a buzzer to
alert the blind about the whereabouts of the walking stick. The
Arduino Uno and the wireless RF remote control receiver are
powered up by a 9V battery and 12V battery respectively. Both
the batteries are expected to last around 2-3 months, depending
on the usage.

Fig. 6. Grove water sensor test

The result of water sensor is shown in Table II.

TABLE II. CONFUSION MATRIX FOR WATER SENSOR TEST

Water Sensor Test

Liquid
Water Oil
Water 100% 0%
Oil 0% 0%

Fig. 4. Wireless RF remote control transmitter and receiver
III. RESULT AND DISCUSSIONS
The ultrasonic sensor distance measurement sensing has
been tested as depicted in Fig. 5. The test involves the
measurement of the accuracy of the sensor for detecting the
distance of an object ahead.
From the result in Table I, it can be seen that the distance
measurement of the ultrasonic sensor is not far from the actual
distance with the accuracy of 90.0%. For the distance 90cm -
80cm, a test was done to check if the buzzer will sound with
higher frequency in case the obstacle ahead is nearer. The
ultrasonic sensor was placed above the water sensor to avoid
the presence of water that may cause damage to the circuit.

TABLE III. DISTANCE MEASUREMENT TEST RESULT OF OBSTACLE

Distance Measurement Test
True
False
True negative False
positive
positive (obstacle negative
Distance No. of (obstacle
(obstacle distance (obstacle
Test distance
correctly not wrongly
wrongly
identified) wrongly identified)
classified)
classified)
Fig. 5. Distance measurement test 100 cm 10 100% 0% 100% 0%
95 cm 10 90% 10% 90 % 10%
Equation (1) and (2) are used to compute the system and 90 cm 10 80 % 0% 100% 20%
ultrasonic sensor accuracy respectively. Table I shows the result 85 cm 10 80% 0% 100% 20%
of the accuracy test. 80 cm 10 80% 20% 80% 20%
Total 50 430 30 470 70
TABLE I. CONFUSION MATRIX FOR DISTANCE MEASUREMENT TEST
σ்೛ ାσ்೙
Measurement Test ܵ‫ ݕܿܽݎݑܿܿܽ ݉݁ݐݏݕ‬ൌ  (1)
Distance σ்೛ ାσ்೙ ାσி೛ ାσி೙
100 cm 95 cm 90 cm 85 cm 80 cm Water Oil
Ͷ͵Ͳ ൅ Ͷ͹Ͳ
100 cm 100 % 0% 0% 0% 0% 0% 0% ܷ݈‫ ݕܿܽݎݑܿܿܽݎ݋ݏ݊݁ݏܿ݅݊݋ݏܽݎݐ‬ൌ 
95 cm 10% 90% 0% 0% 0% 0% 0% Ͷ͵Ͳ ൅ Ͷ͹Ͳ ൅ ͵Ͳ ൅ ͹Ͳ
90 cm 0% 0% 70% 30% 0% 0% 0%
ܷ݈‫ ݕܿܽݎݑܿܿܽݎ݋ݏ݊݁ݏ ܿ݅݊݋ݏܽݎݐ‬ൌ ͻͲǤͲΨ (2)
85 cm 0% 0% 0% 80% 20% 0% 0%
80 cm 0% 0% 0% 20% 80% 0% 0% The test for groove water sensor was performed, and the
water sensor reacted to the presence of water. The water sensor
was also tested to detect the presence of another liquid such as
The coding is programmed in the Arduino board to measure oil. From Table II, it is evident that the sensor can't detect all
the distance of an object and the presence of water as shown in forms of the liquid, as the sensor did not respond to the presence
Fig. 6. of oil.
 Notably, the buzzer sound for the water sensor is set TABLE V. WIRELESS RF REMOTE CONTROL SWITCH TEST RESULT
differently to avoid confusion. The buzzer in the water sensor
Wireless RF Remote Control Switch Test
beeps faster, and the buzzer sound is a little bit slower than
True
ultrasonic sensor. The water sensor is placed below the True
False
negative False
ultrasonic sensor and the receiver of RF on the walking stick. positive
Distance No. positive (obstacle negative
(obstacle
The water sensor was not put on the bottom of the walking stick of (obstacle
distance
distance (obstacle
to avoid any damage to the circuit that may have been caused test correctly not wrongly
wrongly
identified) wrongly identified)
by the rough surface or high level of water. There are some classified)
classified
limitations or problems in the Groove water sensor; the sensor 0.5 m 10 100% 0% 100% 0%
sometimes is too sensitive to the presence of water. This makes
the buzzer sound a little bit longer until the sensor is dry or no 1m 10 90% 0% 100 % 10%
longer detects the presence of water. The sensor also can only 1.5.m 10 70 % 10% 90% 30%
detect water up to 5cm³ just to avoid any short circuit to the
2m 10 60% 0% 100% 40%
water sensor. Hence, the sensor is not suitable to be used in
heavy rain. Total 40 320 10 390 80

Table III shows the result of ultrasonic sensor for obstacle ଷଶ଴ାଷଽ଴
detection using confusion matrix. ܹ݅‫ ݕܿܽݎݑܿܿܽܨܴݏݏ݈݁݁ݎ‬ൌ  ൌ ͺͺǤ͹ͷΨ(3)
ଷଶ଴ାଷଽ଴ାଵ଴ା଼଴

TABLE IV. WATER SENSOR TEST RESULT

IV. CONCLUSION
Water Sensor Test This paper proposes an ultrasonic-based intelligent walking
False
True stick for the visually impaired subject which detects obstacles
True negative false
No. positive
positive
(obstacle negative
and water with a different sound of buzzer for each type of
Distance (obstacle
of (obstacle distance (obstacle obstacle. The obstacle detection accuracy was found to be
distance
test correctly
wrongly
not wrongly 90.00% accurate using confusion matrix. The remote control
identified) wrongly identified)
classified)
classified)
for locating the walking stick when misplaced recorded 88.75%
Water 10 90% 0% 0% 0%
accuracy.
Oil 10 0% 100% 0% 0% ACKNOWLEDGMENT
Total 20 90 100 0 0 This work was partially supported by Ministry of Higher
Education Malaysia (Kementerian Pendidikan Tinggi) under
ଽ଴ Research Initiative Grant Scheme (RIGS) number RIGS 16-
ܹܽ‫ ݕܿܽݎݑܿܿܽݎ݋ݏ݊݁ݏݎ݁ݐ‬ൌ ൌ ͻͲǤͲΨ (2)
ଵ଴଴ 357-0521.

The wireless RF remote control switch is evaluated by REFERENCES

placing the walking stick in one place, then pressing the switch
on the remote control and trying to go as far as possible while
listening to the sound of the buzzer. The maximum range of the
buzzer that could be heard was observed to be 2.0 m. The sound
of the buzzer for the RF receiver is slower than the ultrasonic
buzzer and the water sensor. To sound the buzzer rapidly,
buttons A and B should be pressed simultaneously so that the
user can hear the sound of buzzer more naturally. On the
walking stick, the wireless RF receiver was placed between the
ultrasonic sensor and the water sensor. Equation 3 is used to
evaluate the accuracy of the RF remote control which is the
most common performance measure.
RF remote control confusion matrix is presented in Table V.
[1] Vision impairment and blindness, World Health Organization, 2017.
[Online]. Available:
http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs282/en. [Accessed: 12- Oct-
2017].
[2] G. Gayathri, M. Vishnupriya, R. Nandhini and M.M. Banupriya, “Smart
walking stick for visually impaired”, International Journal Of
Engineering And Computer Science (IJECS), vol. 3, no. 3, pp.4057-4061,
2014.
[3] O.B. Al-Barrm and J. Vinouth, 3D ultrasonic stick for blind, International
Journal of Latest Trends in Engineering and Technology (IJLTET), vol.
3, no. 3, pp. 108-114, 2014.
[4] P. Sharma and S.L. Shimi, “Design and development of virtual eye for the
blind”, International Journal of Innovative Research in Electrical,
Electronics, Instrumentation and Control Engineering, vol. 3, no.3, pp.
26-33, 2015.
[5] T.A. Ueda and L.V. de Araújo, “Virtual walking stick: Mobile application
to assist visually impaired people to walking safely”, In Universal Access
in Human-Computer Interaction, International Conference on, Springer,
Cham, pp. 803-813, 2014.
[6] V. Patel, The Digitalization of the Walking Stick for the Blind.
International Journal of Scientific & Engineering Research, Volume 6,
Issue 4, 1142-1145, 2015.
[7] C. Furlan And V. Su, Sonar Walking Stick. San Luis Obispo: Electrical
Engineering Department, California Polytechnic University, 2014.
[8] P. Bhardwaj and J. Singh, “Design and development of secure navigation
system for visually impaired people”, International Journal of Computer
Science & Information Technology, vol. 5, no. 4, pp. 159-164, 2013.

View publication stats