WayBuddy: Advanced Navigation & Safety Stick For Blind Assistance

Visually impaired individuals face significant challenges in detecting obstacles and navigating safely, particularly in unfamiliar environments.Conventional white canes offer only limited obstacle detection and no real-time navigational support, restricting independence and increasing accident risks.This paper surveys the design and development of WayBuddy, an advanced navigation and safety stick intended to address these limitations.WayBuddy integrates low-cost, lightweight sensors-including ultrasonic, water, flame, and gas detectors-with a microcontroller to provide immediate haptic and audio alerts to potential hazards.A GPS module enables optional location awareness without dependence on smartphones or cloud services, thereby improving portability and data privacy.By combining multiple sensing modalities into a single device, WayBuddy enhances situational awareness, boosts user confidence, and supports independent travel.This survey highlights the need for affordable, user-friendly assistive technologies, reviews existing solutions, and positions WayBuddy as a practical step toward more comprehensive mobility aids for visually impaired users.