Roboglasses® electronic travel aid with hands free obstacle avoidance for blind and vision impaired users

Roboglasses® 电子旅行辅助设备，可为盲人和视力受损用户提供免提避障功能

• 批准号: 9341780
• 负责人: NICHOLAS A GIUDICE
• 金额: $ 22.6万
• 依托单位: FAUXSEE INNOVATIONS, LLC
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 财政年份: 2017
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2017-09-30 至 2020-09-29
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9341780
• 关键词: Address; Adherence; Adopted; Adult; Aging; Arkansas; Behavioral; Blindness; Body Regions; Canes; Canis familiaris; Characteristics; Cognitive; Communication; Coupled; Coupling; Craniocerebral Trauma; Cues; Data; Data Analyses; Detection; Development; Device Designs; Devices; Economic Development; Effectiveness; Ensure; Environment; Evaluation; Feedback; Funding; Future; Goals; Grant; Hand; Head; Human; Injury; Intuition; Investments; Learning; Legal patent; Life; Light; Location; Measurable; Measures; Modeling; Modernization; Movement; Obstruction; Participant; Performance; Phase; Population; Procedures; Process; Production; Publications; Recruitment Activity; Research; Safety; Science; Self-Help Devices; Shapes; Small Business Innovation Research Grant; Small Business Technology Transfer Research; Surveys; System; Techniques; Technology; Testing; Time; Touch sensation; Training; Travel; United States National Institutes of Health; Video Recording; Visual impairment; Visually Impaired Persons; Work; base; blind; design; efficacy trial; experimental study; haptics; hazard; improved; innovation; insight; instrument; iterative design; member; next generation; novel strategies; phenomenological models; prototype; research and development; response; sensor; success; sunglasses; tool; usability; user protection

Project Summary – Fauxsee Innovations, LLC The objective of this project is to assess the efficacy and usability of an electronic travel aid (ETA) called Roboglasses® (developed through an NSF SBIR grant) in reducing head and upper body injuries sustained by blind people who currently use a cane and/or guide dog for mobility. Canes and dogs only provide information about ground-level obstructions and existing ETAs are intrusive, convey limited information content, and require a steep learning curve to master. Our Roboglasses® solution provides a new approach to obstacle detection/ avoidance designed to address these shortcomings and improve the safety and efficiency of independent travel for blind users. Our approach uses a simple, hands-free solution that provides a new channel of haptic communication to convey environmental information to the user in an intuitive, silent, and easy-to-use manner. The Roboglasses® ETA, worn like a pair of sunglasses, frees the hands to use the dog, hold a cane or other object; it delivers detailed information about the location, distance and direction of obstacles using an unobtrusive haptic interface where learning is natural and intuitive, vs. requiring cognitive effort and prolonged training. As the sensing and delivery of haptic information is coupled to the head rather than the hand as is the case with other ETAs, it provides better perceptual coupling with distance/directional cues and more natural information related to the user's direction of movement. This project proposes to build four advanced models of the Roboglasses® ETA and conduct in-depth human trials with 20 totally blind adults to determine if the new ETA significantly improves protection of these users from head and upper body injuries during navigation. Additional experiments will refine interface parameters and usability characteristics to ensure the system is optimized for blind users and includes their input in the design process. Adopting this human-centered, iterative design approach is rare in ETA development but ensures that the end product is likely to be accepted and adopted by the target demographic. The experimental trials combine lab-based empirical procedures and qualitative user feedback based on meticulously planned testing environments. The environments use obstacles that mimic real-life hazards that frequently cause upper body and head injuries to blind people. An initial sequence of tests will be conducted to optimize interface usability and ensure adherence to good human factors design. ETA sensor data, video recording and behavioral performance on temporal and error measures, and survey responses will be analyzed and correlated to improve device design and for publication of results to advance ETA science. Two members of the research team are blind: Brandon Foshee, Fauxsee's president, and Dr. Nicholas Giudice, an expert in Orientation and Mobility techniques and assistive technology design. This first-hand phenomenology is lacking in most research and development efforts of assistive technologies but is critical for establishing user needs and for understanding what works and doesn't work in an ETA, insight that will guide all aspects of system design and evaluation.

项目摘要 - Fauxsee Innovations，LLC 该项目的目的是评估称为电子旅行援助（ETA）的效率和可用性 Roboglasses®（通过NSF SBIR Grant开发）减少了头部和上身受伤 由目前使用甘蔗和/或导犬的盲人进行移动。拐杖和狗只提供 有关地面对象和现有ETA的信息是侵入性的，传达有限的信息 内容，并需要钢制学习曲线才能掌握。我们的Roboglasses®解决方案提供了一种新的方法 旨在解决这些缺点并提高安全性和效率的障碍检测/回避 盲人用户独立旅行。我们的方法使用一种简单，免提的解决方案，可提供新的 触觉通信的渠道以直观，沉默和 易于使用的方式。 Roboglasses®ETA像一副太阳镜一样穿着，释放手用狗， 握住拐杖或其他物体；它提供有关位置，距离和方向的详细信息 使用不引人注目的触觉界面，学习是自然而直观的，而需要认知 努力和长期培训。由于感应和传递触觉信息与头部相结合 与其他ETA一样，它与距离/方向相比，它提供了更好的感知耦合 提示和更多自然信息与用户的移动方向有关。这个项目提议建立 Roblasses®ETA的四个高级模型，并与20个完全盲人进行了深入的人类试验 确定新的ETA是否显着改善了这些用户免受头部和上半身伤害的保护 在导航期间。其他实验将完善接口参数和可用性特征 确保对盲人用户进行优化系统，并在设计过程中包括其输入。采用这个 以人为中心的迭代设计方法在ETA开发中很少见，但可确保最终产品是 目标人群可能会接受和采用。实验试验结合了基于实验室的试验 基于精心计划的测试环境的经验程序和定性用户反馈。这 环境使用模仿现实生活中的危险的障碍，这些危害经常造成上半身和头部受伤 盲人。将进行初始测试序列，以优化接口可用性并确保 遵守良好的人为因素设计。 ETA传感器数据，视频录制和行为性能 将分析并关联临时和错误措施以及调查响应以改善设备设计 并发表结果以推进ETA科学。研究小组的两个成员是盲人：布兰登 Fauxsee总裁Foshee和尼古拉斯·朱迪斯（Nicholas Giudice）博士，方向和移动技术专家 辅助技术设计。大多数研究和发展缺乏这种第一手现象学 辅助技术的努力，但对于建立用户需求和了解有效的方法至关重要 并且无法在ETA中起作用，这将指导系统设计和评估的各个方面。