Ergonomic Evalution of Obstacle Detector for the Visual Impaired in Travel

• Main Authors: Chih-Yung Chen, 陳智勇
• Other Authors: Cheng-Lung Lee
• Format: Others
• Language: zh-TW
• Published: 2006
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/9fmxjc

碩士 === 朝陽科技大學 === 工業工程與管理系碩士班 === 94 === The visually impaired usually travel with the use of white cane. When the obstacles on the way are not detected by white cane, the visually impaired may encounter those obstacles. There are few studies on the development of travel aided devices for the detection of obstacles. The purpose of this study was to develop an obstacle detector for the visually impaired to improve their inconvenience of mobility. A structured questionnaire was designed and applied to make an interview with respondents. Thirty respondents, 15 senior and 15 junior high school students at National Taichung School for the Visually Impaired were recruited. An obstacle detection device was developed with the principle of supersonic and some experiments were conducted in the laboratory and the school campus to test the characteristics of the detector and to examine the behaviors of the visually impaired while traveling around. The result showed that 90% of the respondents needed the assistance of white cane when they walked alone outdoors. However, 90% of them were capable of moving without the use of white cane in a familiar region. The most common body part for 50% of the respondent to avoid hitting against obstacles was the forehead, as followed by the legs (33%) and the hands/waists (17%). It is difficult to prevent their forehead and hands/waist from hitting against obstacles when the white cane is used. From the experimental results, the walking speed showed the significant difference in three different experiment settings. When both the white cane and the obstacle detecor were used simultaneously in the study, the walking speed could be improved and the number of hitting against the obstacles was the least, implying that it was the most efficient for the visual impaired to travel. The obstacle detector developed in the study may indeed help compensate the drawbacks of white cane for the visually impaired.