Voice-Guided Puddle Avoidance Walking Support System for Visually Impaired Pedestrians

Visually impaired individuals face challenges in navigating due to obstacles and terrain differences, such as identifying stationary and moving obstacles and being aware of terrain differences. To meet their needs, there is a growing demand for wearable assistive devices that can help gain their confidence and promote independent living. Our research enhances video-based wearable assistive devices for precise outdoor navigation, focusing on detecting and avoiding water puddles. Water puddles are the main obstacles being considered here since they can be a significant hazard for visually impaired individuals due to their unpredictable and hidden nature. The proposed system combines video-based obstacle detection with dynamic path planning algorithms, and a text-to-speech conversion system to provide comprehensive, personalized voice-based navigation instructions. A key innovation is an adaptive voice feedback system offering step-by-step guidance, promoting independent and confident navigation for visually impaired individuals.