Assistive Smart, Structured 3D Environmental Information for the Visually Impaired and Blind: Leveraging the INSPEX Concept

Inspired by the abilities of contemporary autonomous vehicles to navigate with a high degree of effectiveness, the INSPEX Project1 seeks to minaturise the sensing and processing technology involved, to produce devices which can help navigate within an environment in a smart way, enabling their use in a wide variety of applications. The project is focused on producing an advanced prototype for a device which can be attached to a VIB person’s white cane, and which, through the use of a variety of minaturised sensors, and of the processing of their data via sophisticated algorithms, can offer the user a richer palette of information about the environment than the use of the unadorned white cane alone could furnish. The various strands contributing to the project are overviewed, and the prospects for further enhancements are contemplated.