Dual-Mode Currency Identifier and Travel Assistance Using AssistEye

This study presents AssistEye (dual-mode currency identifier and travel assistance), which is an initiative in assistive technology that is designed to assist visually impaired individuals in public transportation systems and in currency recognition. The visually impaired individuals face many challenges in identifying currency denominations using just touch and reliance on others. The public navigation systems are also heavily dependent on people with good vision. The proposed assistive solution, AssistEye is a compact, affordable and offline assistive electronic device that can be handheld and portable. The device combines image processing for currency note identification, and QR (Quick Response) code scanning for real-time audio-based travel assistance. A camera module of the device captures the currency images, and the several QR codes intended to be placed at public transport entrance points provide the transport route and schedule information. The methodology involves integrating the hardware components including Raspberry Pi, a camera module, QR scanner, and a text-to-speech engine, along with software modules for image processing using OpenCV and QR code decoding. The conducted experiment using the proposed solution successfully achieved 95 % currency recognition accuracy and 98% QR Code success rate under optimal conditions. This indicates it to be a practical alternative to expensive assistive technologies and internet-dependent solutions. This project can further work on global currency recognition and provide with multilingual support for a diverse user demographic in the future, along with advanced navigation features using GPS (Global Positioning System) and public transport APIs (Application Programming Interface). AssistEye demonstrates the potential of technology to make a tangible difference in the lives of visually impaired individuals, to enhance their independence and to promote greater inclusivity.